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Alexis Clairaut
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French mathematician, astronomer, and geophysicist (*1713 – †1765)
Alexis Clairaut was an 18th-century French mathematician, astronomer, and geophysicist who made important contributions to understanding gravity, planetary motion, and Earth's shape. His work helped advance scientific understanding of the physical world during a key period when math and observation were becoming central to how people explained natural phenomena.
AI-generated from the Wikipedia summary — may contain errors.
Key facts
- Born
- ( 1713-05-13 ) 13 May 1713 , Paris, France
- Died
- 17 May 1765 (1765-05-17) (aged 52), Paris, France
- Known for
- Clairaut's theorem (gravity) Clairaut's theorem on mixed partial derivatives Clairaut's equation Clairaut's relation Apsidal precession
- Fields
- Mathematics Physics
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- human
- Given name
- Claude
- Gender
- male
- Citizenship
- France
- Place of birth
- Paris
- Place of death
- Paris
- Occupation
- physicist
- Employer
- French Academy of Sciences
- Languages spoken
- German
- Notable work
- Clairaut's theorem
- Doctoral student
- Pierre Charles Le Monnier
- Field of work
- geodesy
- Image
- Alexis Clairault.jpg
Show 12 more facts
- member of
- Russian Academy of Sciences
- date of birth
- 1713-05-07
- date of death
- 1765-05-17
- birth name
- Alexis Claude Clairault
- Commons category
- Alexis Claude Clairaut
- Commons gallery
- Alexis Claude Clairaut
- name in native language
- Alexis Claude Clairaut
- student
- Émilie du Châtelet
- Commons Creator page
- Alexis Clairaut
- P8168
- Walter Mahlendorf
- maintained by WikiProject
- WikiProject Mathematics
- place of burial
- Catacombs of Paris
Sources (9)
via Wikidata · CC0
~12 min read
Encyclopedic overview
Alexis Claude Clairaut (/klɛərˈroʊ/; French: [alɛksi klod klɛʁo]; 13 May 1713 – 17 May 1765) was a French mathematician, astronomer, and physicist. He was a prominent Newtonian whose work helped to establish the validity of the principles and results that Sir Isaac Newton had outlined in the Principia of 1687. Clairaut was one of the key figures in the expedition to the Lapland that helped to confirm Newton's deduction of the figure of the Earth. In that context, Clairaut deduced what is now known as Clairaut's theorem. He also tackled the gravitational three-body problem, being the first to obtain a satisfactory result for the apsidal precession of the Moon's orbit. In mathematics he is also credited with Clairaut's theorem on mixed partial derivatives, Clairaut's equation, and Clairaut's relation in differential geometry.
Biography
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Alexis Clairaut” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.