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IIRC one of young Voltaire's French lady friends was studying the Principia, and it was considered a trendy thing to do. > The discovery suggests that Principi
by jackfoxy 6y ago
IIRC one of young Voltaire's French lady friends was studying the Principia, and it was considered a trendy thing to do.
> The discovery suggests that Principia had a stronger impact on Enlightenment science than previous research suggested.
Gee, I was always under the assumption it had a tremendous impact on Enlightenment science.
- libraryofbabel 6y agoAre you thinking of Émilie du Châtelet? (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%89milie_du_Ch%C3%A2telet https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%89milie_du_Ch%C3%A2telet) I don’t think she counts as a “trendy” student of the Principia. She translated the whole thing into French and wrote her own commentary on it. Certainly understood it at a much deeper mathematical level than Voltaire himself did! That said, it was certainly a trendy topic of conversation in Enlightenment salons, even if few people actually read it for themselves.
- jackfoxy 6y agoDidn't mean to imply she was not serious, rather that studying the Principia was a thing in those days, and rather the Surprisingly part of the title of the OP is problematic.