Nicolas Fatio de Duillier

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Nicolas Fatio

Nicolas Fatio de Duillier (born February 16, 1664 in Basel , † May 10, 1753 in Maddersfield near Worcester ) was an important Geneva mathematician in the late 17th century and was through his work on the zodiacal light , his role in the priority dispute between Isaac Newton and Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz , and known for his theory of gravity , later known as Le Sage Gravitation.

From Paris to London

Fatio was born the seventh of 14 children to Jean-Baptiste and Cathérine Fatio. In 1672 the family moved to the Duillier estate . In 1682, at the age of 18, Fatio traveled to Paris to conduct astronomical studies under the then famous astronomer Giovanni Domenico Cassini at the Paris Observatory. Fatio's greatest success was his work (1684) on the nature of the zodiacal light discovered by Cassini (1683), which is basically still valid today. Fatio explained this phenomenon using particles that reflect the light of the sun.

In 1686 Fatio happened to witness a plot directed against William of Orange , which he was able to thwart. In the same year he made the acquaintance of Jakob I Bernoulli and Christiaan Huygens , with whom a particularly close collaboration developed. The main content was the infinitesimal calculus and especially the determination of the tangents of thread curves .

In 1687 he traveled to London, where he made the acquaintance of John Wallis and Edward Bernard (1638–1697) and worked out a solution to what was then known as the “inverse tangent problem” (a solution for certain differential equations ). He was also friends with Gilbert Burnet (1643–1715), John Locke , Richard Hampden (1631–1695) and his son John Hampden (1653–1696). In 1688 he was finally admitted to the Royal Society at the suggestion of John Hoskyns (1634-1705) .

In 1688 he lectured to the Royal Society on Huygens' mechanical explanation of gravity , which he wanted to combine with Newton's. Finally, in a letter he sent to Huygens in 1690, the content of which he presented to the Royal Society, he wrote his own theory of gravity, which later became known as Le Sage Gravitation . This theory, which he worked on until the end of his life, is based on the assumption of the smallest particles, the collisions of which drive bodies towards one another.

Around 1700 he and Pierre de Baufre tried to use perforated gemstones as bearings for wheels in mechanical watches. The two were granted a patent in 1705 for this technique, which is still in use today.

Newton, Leibniz and the Camisards

However, his relationship with Isaac Newton was particularly close, and he was impressed by his theory of gravity from the start. In 1691 he even tried to create a new edition of Newton's Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica , but did not finish this project. However, by 1694, the relationship between the two cooled off. During this time, several correspondence with Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz took place.

However, Fatio later became famous for his important role in the dispute between Newton and Leibniz about who was the first inventor of the infinitesimal calculus . In a letter (1699) he indirectly accused Leibniz of having seized the intellectual property of someone else and thus triggered the dispute.

Around 1707 Fatio joined the Camisards . He left England and took part in pilgrimages across Europe. After his return, only a few of his writings appeared. It was past its scientific zenith. Eventually he died near Worcester in 1753 .

After his death, his compatriot from Geneva, Georges-Louis Le Sage , tried to acquire Fatio's scientific estate. The estate is now together with Le Sage's papers in the University Library in Geneva.

Fonts

  • Lettre N ° 2570 . In: Société Hollandaise des Sciences (ed.): Oeuvres complètes de Christiaan Huygens . tape 9 . The Hague 1690, p. 381-389 ( gallica.bnf.fr ).
  • De la cause de la Pesanteur . In: Karl Bopp (Ed.): Three studies on the history of mathematics (=  writings of the Strasbourg Scientific Society in Heidelberg . Volume 10 ). De Gruyter & Co, Berlin / Leipzig 1929, p. 19-66 ( Wikisource or degruyter.com ).
  • De la Cause de la Pesanteur. Mémoire de Nicolas Fatio de Duillier . In: Bernard Gagnebin (Ed.): Notes and Records of the Royal Society of London . tape 6 , 1949, pp. 125-160 , JSTOR : 531280 .

literature

  • Rudolf Wolf: Nicolas Fatio de Duillier . In: Biographies on the cultural history of Switzerland . tape 4 , 1862, p. 67–86 ( limited preview in Google Book Search).
  • C. Domson: Nicolas Fatio de Duillier and the Prophets of London . Ayer Publishing, 1972, ISBN 0-405-13852-0 .
  • H. Zehe: The theory of gravity of Nicolas Fatio de Duillier . Gerstenberg Verlag, Hildesheim 1980, ISBN 3-8067-0862-2 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Fritz Nagel: Nicolas Fatio de Duillier. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland . December 22, 2015 , accessed June 7, 2019 .
personal data
SURNAME Fatio de Duillier, Nicolas
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss mathematician
DATE OF BIRTH February 16, 1664
PLACE OF BIRTH Basel
DATE OF DEATH May 10, 1753
Place of death Maddersfield near Worcester