A quiz question · hard
What did Émilie du Châtelet die of six days after completing her French translation of Newton's Principia?
Du Châtelet finished the Principia translation manuscript on 1 September 1749, gave birth to a daughter on 4 September, and died of puerperal fever on 10 September, aged 42. The translation became France's standard Newton for two centuries.
Read the full story →From the story
The French Marquise Who Produced the Definitive French Translation of Newton's Principia, Wrote It While Pregnant at 42, and Died Six Days After Childbirth Émilie du Châtelet's French translation and mathematical commentary on Newton's *Principia* was completed in summer 1749 while she was carrying a fourth child at age 42. She finished the manuscript at Lunéville on 1 September 1749, gave birth on 4 September, and died of puerperal fever on 10 September. The translation, published posthumously in 1759, remained the standard French Newton until the 20th century.
Related questions
- What was the Antikythera mechanism designed to do?
- Who killed Archimedes during the Roman sack of Syracuse in 212 BC?
- What technique in Archimedes's *Method of Mechanical Theorems* anticipated what later mathematics?
- At what UTC time did the Apollo 11 lunar module Eagle land in the Sea of Tranquility?