Pierre-Simon Laplace, 1749-1827: A Life in Exact Science

Front Cover
Princeton University Press, 2000 M02 27 - 322 pages

Pierre-Simon Laplace was among the most influential scientists in history. Often referred to as the lawgiver of French science, he is known for his technical contributions to exact science, for the philosophical point of view he developed in the presentation of his work, and for the leading part he took in forming the modern discipline of mathematical physics. His two most famous treatises were the five-volume Traité de mécanique céleste (1799-1825) and Théorie analytique des probabilités (1812). In the former he demonstrated mathematically the stability of the solar system in service to the universal Newtonian law of gravity. In the latter he developed probability from a set of miscellaneous problems concerning games, averages, mortality, and insurance risks into the branch of mathematics that permitted the quantification of estimates of error and the drawing of statistical inferences, wherever data warranted, in social, medical, and juridical matters, as well as in the physical sciences.


This book traces the development of Laplace's research program and of his participation in the Academy of Science during the last decades of the Old Regime into the early years of the French Revolution. A scientific biography by Charles Gillispie comprises the major portion of the book. Robert Fox contributes an account of Laplace's attempt to form a school of young physicists who would extend the Newtonian model from astronomy to physics, and Ivor Grattan-Guinness summarizes the history of the scientist's most important single mathematical contribution, the Laplace Transform.

 

Contents

Youth Education and Election to the Academy
3
Universal Gravitation
29
Distribution of Comets
38
Partial Differential Equations Determinants
44
The Figure of the Earth and the Motion of the Seas
51
Influence and Reputation
67
Generating Functions and Definite Integrals
86
Population
93
LAPLACIAN PHYSICS AND PROBABILITY
197
The Velocity of Sound Robert Fox
199
ShortRange Forces Robert Fox
203
The Laplacian School Robert Fox
209
Theory of Error
216
Théorie analytique and Essai philosophique
224
Loss of Influence Robert Fox
243
The Last Analysis
250

Chemical Physics of Heat
101
Attraction of Spheroids
109
Planetary Astronomy
124
The Revolution and the Metric System
149
Scientific Work in the Early Revolution
156
Exposition du système du monde
166
A Scientific Eminence
176
Traité de mécanique céleste
184
THE LAPLACE TRANSFORM
257
Laplaces Integral Solutions to Partial Differential Equations Ivor GrattanGuinness
259
Conclusion
271
Abbreviations
280
Bibliography
281
Index
319
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