LAPLACE, PIERRE-SIMON. - Astronomer and mathematician, b. at Beaumont-en-Ange (Calvados) on 23 March 1749, d. at Paris on 5 March 1827. He began his career teaching at the Artillery School and at the École Normale. Having won the favor of Bonaparte, he was first Minister of Public Instruction and then a senator. Pliable to events, as soon as the Restoration came he paid homage to Louis XVIII and was elected a member of the Académie Française.
His scientific activity began with a study of the mutual perturbations between Jupiter and Saturn; there followed research on the secular acceleration of the moon, the discovery of the secular invariability of the mean distances of the planets, and the discovery of important theorems on determinants. He studied attraction between spheroids, availing himself of the research he had done on the partial differential equation ΔV = 0, which took his name, and he was the first to use the method of perturbations, so fruitful, even now, and which consists in solving a problem in two stages: first in a first approximation, abstracting from elements of lesser importance, and subsequently in a second approximation, bringing into play the elements previously neglected.
L. published in 1796 the Exposition du système du monde, known as the theory of Kant and L., on the formation of the universe; now superseded, but nevertheless far from settled. In 1812 he wrote the Théorie analytique des probabilités, which is perhaps the first systematic treatise on this important and delicate subject.
He was a believer, as can be deduced from a letter of 1809 that he addressed to his son, in which he writes: «Je prie Dieu qu'il veille sur tes jours. Aie-Le toujours présent à ta pensée ainsi que ton père et ta mère», and from his Christian death. His complete works were published in 7 vols., at Paris 1843-47, and in 13 vols., ibid. 1878-1904.
Bibliography7 worksCf. S.-D. Poisson, Discours prononcé aux obsèques de M. le marquis de L., in Connaissance des temps pour l'an 1830, Paris 1830; J.-A. Fourie
BIBL.: Cf. S.-D. Poisson, Discours prononcé aux obsèques de M. le marquis de L., in Connaissance des temps pour l'an 1830, Paris 1830; J.-A. Fourier, Eloge historique de L., in Mémoires de l'Académie des sciences, Paris 1831; Z. de Joannis, Formation mécanique du système du monde, Amicus 1897; K. A. Kneller, Das Christentum und die Vertreter der neueren Naturwissenschaft, 2nd ed., Freiburg im Br. 1904, pp. 70-74, Italian trans., Brescia 1906, pp. 89-96; A. Eymieu, La part des croyants dans le progrès de la science, I, Paris 1928, pp. 58-63; P. Busco, Kant et L., in Rev. phil., 99 (1925); G. Armellini, Un'erronea obbedienza contro l'ipotesi cosmogonica di L., in Atti dell'Acc. Linc., Rendic. sc. fisiche, 23 (1936, v).
Teofilato, Pietro. “Laplace, pierre-simon.” In Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. VII, coll. 907–908. Città del Vaticano: Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico, 1951. https://azioneromana.com/article/laplace-pierre-simon.
MLA
Teofilato, Pietro. “Laplace, pierre-simon.” Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. VII, Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico, 1951, coll. 907–908. Azione Romana, https://azioneromana.com/article/laplace-pierre-simon.
BibTeX
@incollection{ec7_laplace_pierre_simon,
author = {Teofilato, Pietro},
title = {Laplace, pierre-simon},
booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica},
volume = {VII},
pages = {907--908},
note = {Cited by column},
publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico},
address = {Città del Vaticano},
year = {1951},
url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/laplace-pierre-simon}
}
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