Jean le Rond d'Alembert, pastel by Maurice Quentin de la Tour

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. stolen from french wikipedia File links The following pages link to this file: Jean le Rond dAlembert Talk:Gravity Categories: Images with unknown copyright status ... 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 Netherlands, Britain & France sign Triple Alliance February 26-March 6 What is now the northeastern United States was paralyzed by a series of blizzards that buried the region. ... 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). ... Wikibooks Wikiversity has more about this subject: School of Mathematics Wikiquote has a collection of quotations by or about: Mathematics Look up Mathematics in Wiktionary, the free dictionary Wikimedia Commons has more media related to: Mathematics Bogomolny, Alexander: Interactive Mathematics Miscellany and Puzzles. ... Mechanics refers to: a craft relating to machinery (from the Latin mechanicus, from the Greek mechanikos, meaning one skilled in machines), or a range of disciplines in science and engineering. ... A physicist is a scientist trained in physics. ... 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 a 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. ... An orphanage is an institution dedicated to caring for orphans (children without living parents). ...

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. ... The term philosophy derives from a combination of the Greek words philos meaning love and sophia meaning wisdom. ... Corruption Jurisprudence Philosophy of law Law (principle) List of legal abbreviations Legal code Intent Letter versus Spirit Natural Justice Natural law Religious law Witness intimidation Legal research External links Wikibooks Wikiversity has more about this subject: School of Law Look up law in Wiktionary, the free dictionary Law, Legal Definitions... Resources ArtLex. ... 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, was a French philosopher, mathematician and part-time mercenary. ...

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. Bust of Homer, one of the earliest European poets, in the British Museum Poetry (ancient Greek: ποιεω (poieo) = I 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. ... Wikibooks Wikiversity has more about this subject: School of Mathematics Wikiquote has a collection of quotations by or about: Mathematics Look up Mathematics in Wiktionary, the free dictionary Wikimedia Commons has more media related to: Mathematics Bogomolny, Alexander: Interactive Mathematics Miscellany and Puzzles. ... Theology is reasoned discourse concerning God (Greek θεος, theos, God, + λογος, logos, word or reason). It also refers to the study of other religious topics. ... Events January 1 - Bouvet Island is discovered by French explorer Jean-Baptiste Charles Bouvet de Lozier. ...

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. Medicine on the Web NLM (National Library of Medicine, contains resources for patients and healthcare professionals) Virtual Hospital (digital health sciences library by the University of Iowa) Online Medical Dictionary Collection of links to free medical resources Categories: Medicine | Health ... Wikibooks Wikiversity has more about this subject: School of Mathematics Wikiquote has a collection of quotations by or about: Mathematics Look up Mathematics in Wiktionary, the free dictionary Wikimedia Commons has more media related to: Mathematics Bogomolny, Alexander: Interactive Mathematics Miscellany and Puzzles. ... 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 July 1 - Tewoflos becomes Emperor of Ethiopia September 28 - Peter the Great defeats the Swedes at the Battle of Lesnaya Kandahar conquered by Mir Wais In Masuria one third of the population die during the plague J... 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). ... // What is science? There are different theories of what science is. ... 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. ... Refraction in a Perspex (acrylic) block. ... DAlemberts paradox states that an inviscid (non-viscous), incompressible flow produces no drag on an object surrounded by such fluid, yet it does produce lift. ... In physics, a net force acting on a body causes that body to accelerate; that is, to change its velocity. ... The Pitch Drop Experiment at the University of Queensland. ... A subset of the phases of matter, fluids include liquids, gases, plasmas and, to some extent, plastic solids. ...

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. ...

He suffered bad health for many years and his death was as the result of a bladder illness. As a known unbeliever, d'Alembert was buried in a common unmarked grave.

In France, the fundamental theorem of algebra is known as the d'Alembert/Gauss theorem. In mathematics, the fundamental theorem of algebra states that every complex polynomial of degree n has exactly n roots (zeroes), counted with multiplicity. ... Johann Carl Friedrich Gauss Johann Carl Friedrich Gauss (Gauß) (April 30, 1777 – February 23, 1855) was a German mathematician and scientist who contributed significantly to many fields, including number theory, analysis, differential geometry, geodesy, magnetism, astronomy and optics. ...

See also D'Alembert's principle. DAlemberts principle is a statement of the fundamental classical laws of motion. ...

L'Encyclopédie

With Denis Diderot, d'Alembert edited a groundbreaking encyclopedia.

Bibliography

• Jean d'Alembert by Ronald Grimsley. (1963)

See also

• Liberalism
• Contributions to liberal theory
• Wave equation

Note: This entry discusses liberalism as a world wide ideology, not its manifestations in any specific country. ... This is an (partial) overview of individuals that contributed to the development of liberal theory on a worldwide scale and therefore are strongly associated with the liberal tradition and instrumental in the exposition of political liberalism as a philosophy. ... 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. ...

External links

Wikisource has original text related to this article:

Jean le Rond d'Alembert

• English translation of part of the Encyclopédie of Diderot and d'Alembert

Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... Wikisource is a sister project to Wikipedia that aims to create a free wiki library of primary source texts, and translations of source texts in any language. ...