June 16, 2018 Saturday
Bedtime Story
Pierre Louis Maupertuis - 1698
Then man to whom the modern West gives
credit for the discovery of the Principle of Least action is the Frenchman
Pierre Louis Maupertuis.
This man Maupertuis was born in Saint-Malo,
France in 1698, a time when the Leibniz-Newton Calculus controversy was in full
swing in the continent.
Saint-Malo is a port city sitting on the
coast of the English Channel across which are the English cities such as Devon
and Plymouth.
Newton’s Principia had been published just
eleven years before his birth in 1687 and it was becoming very clear that the
new mathematics invented both in England and in Europe mainland had the power
to describe the workings of heavens, and that too with great accuracy.
It was also the time when the world of
microbes was opening up thanks to a strange magnifying device that was
developed by a Dutch businessman by the name of Antoine van Leeuwenhoek.
But it was mathematics and the new science
of differential and integral calculus that was ruling the roost those days.
The father of Maupertuis was not only a
wealthy merchant but was also a corsair, meaning he was the official pirate for
the French Crown authorized to conduct raid on ships on any nation that were at
war with France.
That made him a well-connected man with the
Crown and the circle of Nobility and aristocrats; thus one can safely say that
this young boy was born to a prosperous family.
His father did not let his own wealth
spoilt the kid; he on the other hand employed a private mathematics tutor for
his son who gave him exclusive tutoring in mathematics which helped this little
boy to blossom.
Of course, mathematical talent and
intuition is innate; many men have been tutored for mathematics by tutors but
only a rare few have shown any true mathematical inclination.
Just in a matter of few years thanks both
to his brilliance and his father’s contacts, Maupertuis began to rise high not
only his social circles but also in mathematical circles as well, building up
for himself a strong reputation both as a mathematician and a literary wit.
By the age of 25 he had moved to Paris and
was admitted into the French Academy of Sciences, which in contrast to its British
counterpart was founded as an organ of government but was as prestigious as the
Royal Society.
I will not go into his entire biography
interesting as it is; suffice it is to say that he rose high up in the academic
world not only in his home country but also the neighboring Prussia during the
regime of Frederick II.
Not only did he go on to become the
director of the French Academy of Sciences but he also held the post of the
first President of the Prussian Academy of Science at the age of 48.
He along with the great Leonhard Euler ran
this Prussian Academy of Sciences even though during that period, from 1756 to
1763, there broke that horrendous Seven Years’ War, a global conflict much like
the World War II that involved every European power of that time.
Such political wars not only cause immense
misery and loss of lives for those taking active part in its battles, but even
affects the lives of even those who do not wish to have anything to do with it.
Stay tuned to the voice of an average story storytelling
chimpanzee or login at http://panarrans.blogspot.com
Good night Mon Ami and my fellow cousin ape.
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Another great educator and a teacher that I am aware of is
Professor Subhashish Chattopadhyay in Bangalore, India.
While I narrate stories, Professor Subhashish an electronic
engineer and a former professor at BARC, does and teaches real mathematics and
physics.
He started the participation of Indian students at the
International Physics Olympiad.
Do visit him here:
All his books can be downloaded for free through this link:
For edutainment and English education of your children, I
recommend this large collection of Halloween Songs for Kids:
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