NationMaster - Encyclopedia: D'Alembert

Jean Le Rond d'Alembert (November 16, 1717 – October 29, 1783) was a French mathematician, mechanician, physicist and philosopher. He was also one of the editors of the Encyclopédie, an early French encyclopedia. D'Alembert's method for the wave equation is named after him. November 16 is the 320th day of the year (321st in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 45 days remaining. ... Events January 4 — The Britain & France sign Triple Alliance March 2 — Dancer John Weaver performs in the first ballet in Britain shown in Drury Lane The Loves of Mars and Venus March 31 - Bishop Benjamin Hoadly, acting on the advice of King George begins the Bangorian Controversy by saying that... October 29 is the 302nd day of the year (303rd in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 63 days remaining. ... 1783 was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ... Mathematics, often abbreviated maths in Commonwealth English and math in American English, is the study of abstraction. ... Mechanics (Latin mechanicus, from the Greek mechanikos, one skilled in machines) is a variety of specialised sciences pertaining to the functions and routine operations of machines, machine-like devices or objects. ... The word physicist should not be confused with physician, which means medical doctor. ... A philosopher is a person devoted to studying and producing results in philosophy. ... Fig. ... The wave equation is an important partial differential equation which generally describes all kinds of waves, such as sound waves, light waves and water waves. ...

Childhood

Born in Paris, d'Alembert was the illegitimate child of the writer Claudine Guérin de Tencin and the chevalier Louis-Camus Destouches (an artillery officer). Destouches was abroad at the time of d'Alembert's birth, and a couple of days after birth his mother left him on the steps of the Saint-Jean-le-Rond de Paris church. According to custom, he is named after the protecting saint of the church. d'Alembert was placed in an orphanage but was soon adopted by the wife of a glazier. Destouches secretly paid for the education of Jean le Rond, but did not want his parentage officially recognised. The Eiffel Tower has become the symbol of Paris throughout the world. ... Claudine Alexandrine Guérin de Tencin (1681 _ 4 December 1749) was a French courtesan and author. ... Historically, artillery refers to any engine used for the discharge of projectiles during war. ... This article is about the institutions for orphans. ...

Studies

D'Alembert first attended a private school. The chevalier Destouches left d'Alembert an annuity of 1200 livres on his death in 1726. Under the influence of the Destouches family, at the age of twelve d'Alembert entered the Quatre-Nations jansenist college (the institution was also known under the name Mazarin). Here he studied philosophy, law, and art, graduating as bachelier in 1735. In his later life, d'Alembert scorned the Cartesian principles he had been taught by the Jansenists: "physical premotion, innate ideas and the vortices". The term annuity, in current use in the insurance industry, refers to two very different types of legal contracts with very different purposes. ... The livre tournois (or Tournoise pound) was a currency used in France, named after the town of Tours, in which it was minted. ... Events George Friderich Handel becomes a British subject. ... Jansenism was a branch of Christian philosophy founded by Cornelius Jansen (1585-1638), a Flemish theologian. ... Philosophy (from a combination of the Greek words philos meaning love and sophia meaning wisdom), as a practice, aims at some kind of understanding, knowledge or wisdom about fundamental matters such as reality, knowledge, meaning, value, being and truth. ... Law (a loanword from Danish- Norwegian lov), in politics and jurisprudence, is a set of rules or norms of conduct which mandate, proscribe or permit specified relationships among people and organizations, provide methods for ensuring the impartial treatment of such people, and provide punishments for those who do not follow... Although today the word art usually refers to the visual arts, the concept of what art is has continuously changed over centuries. ... Louis Bachelier was a French mathematician at the turn of the 20th Century. ... Events 16 April - The London premiere of Alcina by George Frideric Handel, his first the first Italian opera for the Royal Opera House at Covent Garden. ... René Descartes René Descartes (IPA: , March 31, 1596 – February 11, 1650), also known as Cartesius, worked as a philosopher and mathematician. ...

The Jansenists steered d'Alembert toward an ecclesiastical career, attempting to deter him from pursuits such as poetry and mathematics. Theology was, however, "rather unsubstantial fodder" for d'Alembert. He entered law school for two years, and was nominated avocat in 1738. Poetry (ancient Greek: poieo = create) is an art form in which human language is used for its aesthetic qualities in addition to, or instead of, its notional and semantic content. ... Mathematics, often abbreviated maths in Commonwealth English and math in American English, is the study of abstraction. ... Theology is literally rational discourse concerning God (Greek θεος, theos, God, + λογος, logos, rational discourse). By extension, it also refers to the study of other religious topics. ... Events April 15 - - Premiere in London of Serse, an Italian opera by George Frideric Handel. ...

He was also interested in medicine and mathematics. Jean le Rond was first registered under the name Daremberg, but later changed it to d'Alembert. In July of 1739 he made his first contribution to the field of mathematics, pointing out the errors he had detected in L'analyse démontrée (published 1708 by Charles René Reynaud) in a communication addressed to the Académie des Sciences. At the time L'analyse démontrée was a standard work, which d'Alembert himself had used to study the foundations of mathematics. See drugs, medication, and pharmacology for substances that are used to treat patients. ... Mathematics, often abbreviated maths in Commonwealth English and math in American English, is the study of abstraction. ... Events March 20 - Nadir Shah occupies Delhi in India and sacks the city stealing the jewels of the Peacock Throne, including the Koh-i-Noor September 9 - Stono Rebellion erupts near Charleston September 18 - Treaty of Belgrade signed October 3 - Treaty of Nissa signed October 23 - Great Britain declares war... Events March 23 - James Francis Edward Stuart lands at the Firth of Forth Kandahar conquered by Mir Wais In Masuria one third of the population die during the plague September 28: Peter the Great defeats the Swedes at the Battle of Lesnaya J.S. Bach appointed as chamber musician and... The French Academy of Sciences (Académie des sciences) is a learned society, founded in 1666 by Louis XIV at the suggestion of Jean-Baptiste Colbert, to encourage and protect the spirit of French scientific research. ...

In 1740, he submitted his second scientific work from the field of fluid mechanics Memoire sur le refraction des corps solides, which was recognized by Clairaut. In this work d'Alembert theoretically explained refraction. He also wrote about what is now called D'Alembert's paradox: that the force on a body immersed in an inviscid fluid is identically zero. Events May 31 - Friedrich II comes to power in Prussia upon the death of his father, Friedrich Wilhelm I. October 20 - Maria Theresia of Austria inherits the Habsburg hereditary dominions (Austria, Bohemia, Hungary and present-day Belgium). ... For the scientific journal named Science, see Science (journal). ... This article or section should be merged with Fluid mechanics Fluid dynamics is the study of fluids (liquids and gases) in motion, and the effect of the fluid motion on fluid boundaries, such as solid containers or other fluids. ... Alexis Claude Clairault (or Clairaut) (May 3, 1713 - May 17, 1765) was a French mathematician. ... This article refers to refraction in waves. ... In physics, a net force acting on a body causes that body to accelerate; that is, to change its velocity. ... Viscosity is a measure of the resistance of a fluid to deformation under shear stress. ... FLUID widget list window FLUID (Fast Light User Interface Designer) is a graphical editor that is used to produce FLTK source code. ...

While he made great strides in mathematics and physics, d'Alembert is also famously known for incorrectly arguing in Croix ou Pile that the probability of a coin landing heads increased for every time that it came up tails. In gambling, the strategy of decreasing ones bet the more one wins and increasing one's bet the more one loses is therefore called the d'Alembert system, a type of martingale. The word probability derives from the Latin probare (to prove, or to test). ... Gambling (or betting) is any behavior involving risking money or valuables (making a wager or placing a stake) on the outcome of a game, contest, or other event in which the outcome of that activity depends partially or totally upon chance or upon ones ability to do something. ... A separate article treats the device for fastening horses bridles or dogs collars called a martingale. ...

D'Alembert died in Paris in a Duel. The Eiffel Tower has become the symbol of Paris throughout the world. ... A duel or duel of honour is a form of armed combat in which two individuals participate. ...

In France, the fundamental theorem of algebra is known as the d'Alembert/Gauss theorem. The fundamental theorem of algebra (now considered something of a misnomer by many mathematicians) states that every complex polynomial of degree n has exactly n zeroes, counted with multiplicity. ... Johann Carl Friedrich Gauss Johann Carl Friedrich Gauss (Gauß) (April 30, 1777 - February 23, 1855) was a legendary German mathematician, astronomer and physicist with a very wide range of contributions; he is considered to be one of the greatest mathematicians of all time. ...

L'Encyclopédie

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Childhood

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L'Encyclopédie

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Studies

L'Encyclopédie

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Childhood