Laplace pierre simon biography of williams

Pierre-Simon Laplace (1749-1827) was a French mathematician of the late Enlightenment period, as well as a political figure in post-revolutionary France (where he earned the title marquis during the short-lived Bourbon Restoration).

Laplace pierre simon biography of williams

He was responsible for a number of important innovations in physics and astronomy.

– Youth and Education –

Pierre-Simon’s influential family once possessed a considerable knowledge of its own heritage, which was lost when their estate (or chateau, in French) was destroyed in the early 20th century.

As a result, relatively little of Laplace’s youth is known today, although it is known that he was born in Normandy, possibly to a farmer or to a town merchant. He was schooled by Benedictines in preparation for a career in the church, including studies in theology at the University of Caen.

However, it was during these university years that Laplace took an interest in mathematics and decided to aban