The Man Who Flattened the Earth
Maupertuis and the Sciences in the Enlightenment
Format:Paperback
Publisher:The University of Chicago Press
Published:30th Jun '06
Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back
Self-styled adventurer, literary wit, and statesman of science, Pierre-Louis Moreau de Maupertuis (1698 - 1759) stood at the center of Enlightenment science and culture. With "The Man Who Flattened the Earth", Mary Terrall offers an elegant portrait of this remarkable man, revealing just how his private life and public works made him a man of science in eighteenth-century Europe. Maupertuis entered the public eye with a much-discussed expedition to Lapland and went on to make significant and often intentionally controversial contributions to physics, life science, and astronomy. Equally at ease in cafes and royal courts, Maupertuis used his social connections and his printed works to enhance a carefully constructed reputation as both a man of letters and a man of science. Terrall not only illuminates the life and work of Maupertuis but also delves into larger Enlightenment issues, including the development of scientific institutions, the impact of print culture on science, and the often vexed interactions of science and government.
"Terrall's work is scholarship in the best sense. Her explanations of arcane eighteenth-century French physics, mathematics, astronomy, and biology are among the most lucid available in any language." - Virginia P. Dawson, American Historical Review "As a guide to the public world of post-Newtonian European science, this well-written, scholarly work has much to offer." - Jeremy Black, Times Higher Education Supplement"
ISBN: 9780226793610
Dimensions: 23mm x 15mm x 3mm
Weight: 624g
468 pages