Chatelet,+Emilie+du

__**Biography**__
Emilie du Chatelet was born in Paris, France on December 17, 1706. She was originally given the name Gabrielle-Emilie Le Tonnelier de Breteuil. She got married in 1724, when she was nineteen years old. She was married to Florent-Claude, Marquise du Catelet, who was the governor of Semur-en-Auxois. In the first two years of their marriage they had two children. A boy names Louis-Marie-Florent, and a girl names Gabrielle Pauline. Later on in their marriage, when Emilie was twenty-seven, they had a third child. The third child was a boy named Victor-Esprit. After their third, and last child Emilie continued to pursue her passion for mathematics, in her studies she met Voltaire, who shared the same interest in Newton's work. In 1733 she began a friendship and affair with Voltaire. soon after that she fell in love with him. Because of this, her marriage with Florent-Claude fell apart. Through all of this both Emilie and Voltaire maintained a friendship with Florent-Claude, Marquise du Chatelet. While visiting at Luneville in 1748, Emilie met Marquis de Saint-Lambert, and soon fell in love with him. He didn't share her passions, but they still developed a relationship. Soon after, Voltaire found out about the affair. In spite of this discovery, he still remained supportive of Emilie and her work. Soon she became pregnant with Saint-Lambert's child. Knowing that this would become a problem, Voltaire helped convince Florent-Claude that the child was his. On September 2, 1749 Emilie gave birth to her fourth an final child. Even though she seemed to be doing a good job recovering from the pregnancy, Emilie unexpectedly died a few days later. Emilie du Chatelet died on September 10, 1749, at forty-three years old.

__**Contributions**__
Emilie du Chatelet grew up in a time when education for women was uncommon. But, because of her incredible intelligence, she convinced her father to supply her with an education. He got her several tutors in different subject. She studied and mastered Latin, Italian, and English. She also studied the work of Tasso, Virgil, Milton, and other great scholars of her time. Although she was extremely gifted in language, she loved math. Her love for math was encouraged by a family friend, M. de Mexieres. After she discovered her passion for math she began discussing it with fine tutors, and spent a lot of time in salons discussing mathematics and science. One of the salons was set for just scientists and mathematicians, but they wouldn't let Emilie in at first. She then returned dressed as a man and was then let in. They knew it was her, but let her in because of her knowledge. Emilie had many accomplishments during her lifetime. She was a French mathematician who promoted the theories of Sir Isaac Newton. She was also influenced by one of her loves Voltaire. He was a French author and philosopher. Emilie began studying Newton in 1735. From 1745-1749 she translated and analyzed Newton's most important work, Principa Mathematica. Unfortunately, her translation wasn't published until ten years after she died in 1759. Her biggest accomplishment was the translation of Newton's work. This made it available to French scholars and her synthesis contributed to the further development of the science of Newton.

__**Citations:**__
-Sviedrys, Romualdas. "Chatelet, Marquise du." World Book. 2006 ed.

-Mandic, Sasha. Emilie du Catelet. April 1995 Agnes Scoot College. 2/15/08 . -Kiss, Laurie. __Emilie, Marquise du Châtelet__. 2/25/08 .

-Fara, Patricia. __Emilie du Châtelet: the genius without a beard__. June 10, 2004 2/26/08 .

-DiGrado, Elena. __Émilie du Châtelet__. OCtober 3, 2006 Palvac's Women's History Site. 2/25/08 .