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Pierre Duhem
Sign in to saveAlso known as Pierre Maurice Marie Duhem, Pierre Maurice Duhem
French physicist and historian of science (1861-1916)
OverviewAI-generated
Pierre Duhem (1861–1916) was a French philosopher, physicist, chemist, and university teacher. Born in the 2nd arrondissement of Paris, he was educated at the Collège Stanislas de Paris and the École Normale Supérieure. Duhem served as a member of the French Academy of Sciences and the Ligue de la Patrie Française. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Physics and wrote in French, occasionally using the pseudonym Ch. Clérice.
His academic career included positions at the University of Lille, the University of Rennes, and the University of Bordeaux. Duhem’s work focused on the philosophy of science and epistemology, influenced by Blaise Pascal and Ernst Mach. He authored fourteen works, including *The Aim and Structure of Physical Theory*, *Théories de la Chaleur*, *Système du Monde*, *Essai sur la notion de théorie physique de Platon à Galilée*, and *Estudos Sobre Leonardo Da Vinci*. He died in Cabrespine.
Synthesized by Vinony from 29 facts across 6 sources: Wikidata, Open Library, Crossref, MusicBrainz, Wikiquote, Vinony graph. Generated from structured data (not the Wikipedia text) and checked against those facts — may still contain errors.
Person · Open Library
- Works
- 14
Top works
- The Aim and Structure of Physical Theory
- Théories de la Chaleur
- Système du Monde
- Estudos Sobre Leonardo Da Vinci
- Essai sur la notion de théorie physique de Platon à Galilée
via Open Library + Wikidata
Recent publications · Crossref
5 total works indexed
- Going deeper with convolutions
· 2015 · cited 32,868x
- Classification of Surgical Complications
· 2004 · cited 28,228x
- Array programming with NumPy
· 2020 · cited 23,431x
- Outline of a Theory of Practice
· 1977 · cited 19,099x
- Testing for a unit root in time series regression
· 1988 · cited 12,659x
via Crossref · CC0
Quotes
- “« La Logique peut être patiente, car elle est éternelle. »("Logic can be patient because it is eternal.")ibid. p. 150”
- “[U]n symbole n'est, à proprement parler, ni vrai, ni faux; il est plus ou moins bien choisi pour signifier la réalité qu'il représente, il la figure d'une manière plus ou moins précise, plus ou moins détaillée...”
- “A physical theory reputed to be satisfactory by the sectarians of one metaphysical school will be rejected by the partisans of another school.”
- “Agreement with experiment is the sole criteria of truth for a physical theory.”
- “The one who contributed most to break down the barrier between physical method and metaphysical method, and to confound their domains, so clearly distinguished in the Aristotelian philosophy, was surely Descartes.”
- “Every time people cite a principle of theoretical physics in support of a metaphysical doctrine or physical dogma, they commit a mistake, for they attribute to this principle a meaning not its own, an import not belonging to it.”
via Wikiquote · CC BY-SA
Key facts
- Born
- Pierre Maurice Marie Duhem , ( 1861-06-09 ) 9 June 1861, Paris, France
- Died
- 14 September 1916 (1916-09-14) (aged 55), Cabrespine , France
- Education
- École Normale Supérieure ( licentiate , 1884) University of Paris (doctorate, 1888)
- Known for
- Clausius–Duhem inequality , Gibbs–Duhem equation , Duhem–Margules equation , Duhem–Quine thesis , Confirmation holism , Thermodynamic potential , Energeticism , Historical epistemology , Conventionalism
- Fields
- Thermodynamics , philosophy of science , history of science
- Institutions
- University of Bordeaux
- Thesis
- De l'aimantation par influence (1888)
via Wikipedia infobox
~24 min read
Encyclopedic overview
Pierre Maurice Marie Duhem ( French: [pjɛʁ mɔʁis maʁi dy.ɛm, moʁ-] ; 9 June 1861 – 14 September 1916) was a French theoretical physicist who made significant contributions to thermodynamics, hydrodynamics, and the theory of elasticity. Duhem was also a prolific historian of science, noted especially for his pioneering work on the European Middle Ages. As a philosopher of science, Duhem is credited with the "Duhem–Quine thesis" on the indeterminacy of experimental criteria. Duhem's opposition to positivism was partly informed by his traditionalist Catholicism, an outlook that put him at odds with the dominant academic currents in France during his lifetime.
Early life and education
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Pierre Duhem” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.