Joseph Saurin

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Bodin, Dufresny, Crèbillon and Madame de Tencin at the Maison d'Auteuil

Joseph Saurin (born September 1, 1659 in Courthézon in the Principality of Orange , † December 29, 1737 in Paris ) was a French mathematician and converted Protestant pastor.

Like his father, he was initially a Protestant theologian and was supposed to become a preacher of the Church of Eure in the Dauphiné , but had to flee to Geneva in 1683 because of the persecution of Protestants under Louis XIV . In Switzerland he was first in charge of the Berchier parish and later the Yverdon parish . But he also felt persecuted in Switzerland - presumably because he had refused to sign the Consensus Helveticus or because he was accused of theft - and returned to Paris in 1690 via Holland , where he became a Catholic under the influence of Jacques Bénigne Bossuet Church transgressed. For this he received a pension of 1500 livres from Louis XIV , which he used to devote himself to mathematics.

Saurin devoted himself to the then new infinitesimal calculus . He was one of the editors of the Journal des sçavans , in which he published many mathematical papers. He dealt with the calculus of variations , the treatment of gravity in the physical system of Descartes and the determination of tangents , where he determined the tangents in colons of algebraic curves.

In 1712 he was accused by Jean-Baptiste Rousseau of being the actual author of denigrating verses that were rumored to be ascribed to Rousseau because they resembled earlier poems by Rousseau. Rousseau argued about this with Saurin in court, which in the end not only acquitted Saurin, but also sentenced Rousseau to perpetual banishment from France for false accusations and as the author of the verses.

Joseph Saurin was a member of the Académie des Sciences and the father of Bernard-Joseph Saurin .

literature

  • Siegfried Gottwald, Hans-Joachim Ilgauds and Karl-Heinz Schlote: Lexicon of important mathematicians . Bibliographical Institute, Leipzig 1990.
  • Samuel Baur: New historical-biographical-literary concise dictionary of the greatest people of all time . 4th volume. Verlag der Stettinische Buchhandlung, Ulm 1809, p. 860.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Andreas Räss and Ferdinand Janner: The convertites since the Reformation according to their lives and from their writings , vol. 8, p. 452f. Herder'sche Buchhandlung, 1868.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Saurin, Joseph
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French mathematician and converted Protestant pastor
DATE OF BIRTH September 1, 1659
PLACE OF BIRTH Courthézon
DATE OF DEATH December 29, 1737
Place of death Paris