Laplace and his Life Vishwajit Kumar 13800

About Laplace

• His full name was Marquis Pierre-Simon de Laplace.• He was a well known astronomer of his time.• He was known as the Newton of France.• His parents were peasants living in Beaumont-en-Auge, Department

of Calvados , France.• He was a bright child from his school days.

Works of Laplace

• Laplace worked on the problem of stability of solar system.• He gave the nebular hypothesis of the origin of solar system.• He also showed that the universe is a perpetual motion machine.• He was the founder of modern theory phase theory of probability.• He developed the theory of potential which was introduced into the

theories of fluid motion, gravitation and electromagnetism.• Other things like theory of numbers attracted him but he abandoned

it due to the lack of time.

Personality of Laplace

• Laplace was ashamed of his humble parents and did everything to hide his peasant origin.• He was greedy for titles.• In his political career he was a loyal supported of whichever one happens to

be in power.• He had the desire to shine in the constantly changing spotlight of public

esteem.• He was interested in the results and not how he got them and he was often

found quoting – ‘It is easy to see’.• In his works he took the reference of other scientists but he deliberately

omitted their references.

Political life of Laplace

• After the French revolution Laplace went in heavily for the politics.• He was criticized heavily for his inability to hold public offices under

successive regimes without changing his politics.• He constantly changed his political ideology.• During Napoleon Bonaparte regime he was awarded several honors

still when Napoleon was in trouble he did not helped him.• After the decline of Napoleon he transferred his loyalty to Louis

XVIII.

Achievements of Laplace

• At the age of twenty-four he was awarded associate membership in the Academy of Sciences.• Later on at the age of 36 he was promoted to the full membership in

the Academy of Sciences.• All his works on mathematical astronomy was published in a book

‘ Mecanique celeste ‘.• He was appointed as the president of the committee to reorganize the

Ecole Polytechnique by Louis XVIII.

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