Mathematician:Jean-Étienne Montucla
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Mathematician
French mathematician and civil servant best known now for his work on the history of mathematics.
Wrote the first comprehensive history of mathematics, uncompleted at the time of his death.
Nationality
French
History
- Born: 5 Sept 1725 in Lyon, France
- 1745: Started studying law at Toulouse, subsequently went to Paris
- 1761: He went to Grenoble, appointed to position of intendant to Dauphiné
- 1763: Married Marie Françoise Romand
- 1764: Posted by French government to Cayenne as royal astronomer and secretary
- 1765: Returned to France
- 1766 to 1789: Appointed Head Clerk of Royal Buildings
- 1775: Appointed Royal Censor of mathematical works
- 1789: Lost most of his considerable wealth in the French Revolution
- 1795: Further public appointments
- Died: 18 Dec 1799 in Versailles, France
Publications
- 1754: Histoire des Récherches sur la Quadrature du Cercle (anonymously)
- 1756: Recueil de Pièces Concernant l'Inoculation de la Petite Vérole et propres à en Prouver la Sécurité et l'Utilité (with the physician Joseph Morisot-Deslandes) (Review of articles concerning inoculation against smallpox and on demonstrating the safety of the procedure)
- 1758: Histoire des mathématiques
- 1778: Re-edited Récréations Mathématiques et Physiques by Jacques Ozanam
- 1798: Histoire des mathématiques (second edition)