MarquiseDuChatelet 2007-02-15 13:47:31 2007-02-19 17:30:52 Biography % this is the default PlanetMath preamble. as your knowledge % of TeX increases, you will probably want to edit this, but % it should be fine as is for beginners. % almost certainly you want these \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{amsfonts} % used for TeXing text within eps files %\usepackage{psfrag} % need this for including graphics (\includegraphics) %\usepackage{graphicx} % for neatly defining theorems and propositions %\usepackage{amsthm} % making logically defined graphics %\usepackage{xypic} % there are many more packages, add them here as you need them % define commands here The \emph{Marquise du Ch\^atelet}, n\'ee \emph{Gabrielle-\'Emilie le Tonnelier de Breteuil} (1706 - 1749) French mathematician and physicist. The daughter of an important functionary in King Louis XIV's court, she was well-educated in languages, sciences, mathematics, arts and sports. Barely 20, she married the Marquis du Ch\^atelet and bore him three children, possibly by other men. To educate her children, she wrote a textbook on physics and made a French translation of Isaac Newton's {\it Philosophie naturalis principia mathematica} that is still used today. Her approximation $e \sim mv^2$ (the energy $e$ of a moving object is proportional to its mass $m$ times the square of its velocity $v$) presaged Einstein's equation $e = mc^2$ by a century and a half. \begin{thebibliography}{1} \bibitem{gt} G. J. Tee ``Gabrielle-\'Emilie le Tonnelier de Breteuil, Marquise du Ch\^atelet'' in {\it Women of Mathematics: A Bibliographic Sourcebook} L. Grinstein, P. Cambpell, ed.s New York: Greenwood Press (1987): 21 - 25 \end{thebibliography}