405:. Fatio was a well-known Swiss personage, and the kinetic theory of gravitation was his most notable scientific contribution, to which he devoted much of his life. Le Sage said that he heard of Fatio for the first time through his father, because his father had heard the prophecies of the cevénots (camisards), and told him that Fatio was among those prophets. Le Sage's father was well acquainted with the scientific fields in which Fatio worked, and he tutored Le Sage in the sciences. Nevertheless, Le Sage later claimed that his father never told him that Fatio had created a theory of gravitation essentially identical to his own. (Le Sage also admitted that he had a pathologically bad memory, so it is unclear if his recollection is accurate.) In any case, Le Sage stated that he knew nothing of Fatio's theory until he was informed by his teacher Gabriel Cramer in 1749.
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Sage did not mention any of his predecessors by name. He merely stated that it was "likely" such a simple idea had occurred to others previously, but if so, they had "presented it in a vague and ill-assured fashion". He went on to ask rhetorically why none of these supposed predecessors (of whom he professes to have no definite knowledge) "pushed these consequences to their conclusion and communicated their research". He suggested that the answer was that they had no clear view of the subject, had not firmly grasped the principles of the theory, had allowed themselves to be seduced by specious sophisms, had bowed to the authority of great names, or had "lacked sufficient love of truth or courage of their convictions to abandon easy pleasures and exterior advantages in order to devote themselves to researches at the time difficult and little welcome.".
564:
However, according to Zehe's description of the
Abauzit manuscript from 1758, this paper contains Fatio's description of the net structure of matter. In the same paper, Le Sage repeated the incorrect claim that Fatio assumed "elastic" collisions – and therefore did not really provide a valid explanation of gravity. Zehe attempted to account for Le Sage's puzzling claims that Fatio assumed "elastic" collisions by speculating that Le Sage must not have studied Fatio's papers very closely.
556:
Fatio assumed elastic collisions, even though the loss of speed of the gravitational corpuscles was explicitly stressed by Fatio as a crucial element of his theory. Le Sage sent in a letter to
Boscovich the beginning of Fatio's Latin poem (modeled on Lucretius) on the subject of his theory of gravitation, and told him that he wanted to publish it, but Boscovich did not agree, arguing that it would be too hard for most people to understand if it is published in Latin.
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gravitation were only the result of studying Cramer's papers. First, he argued that his first essay was written before he knew of the theories of his predecessors. Second, he argued that even if he knew about Cramer's theory, it makes no difference, because Cramer's theory is too vague and scientifically not valuable. Le Sage did, however, accuse Cramer of plagiarising Fatio's theory. (Fatio himself had made the same accusation.)
33:
180:, where he also gave private lessons in mathematics. Here, Le Sage also met Daniel Bernoulli, whose work on the kinetic nature of gases was very influential to him. Then Le Sage left Basel and continued to study medicine in Paris. After he came back to Geneva, Le Sage tried to work as a physician, but it was denied because his father was a native from France. There, he was friendly connected with
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Sciences. In this paper, entitled "Essai de Chymie MĂ©chanique", he tried to explain both the nature of gravitation and chemical affinities. He shared the prize with one other entrant, but his theory of cohesion never gained acceptance, and only the gravitational portion of the theory was found to be of interest by a few of his contemporaries, including
589:
Although Le Sage acknowledged that he was not the first one to propose such a theory, he always said that he was the first one who ever drew all consequences from the theory, even after coming into possession of Cramer's, Fatio's and
Redeker's papers. For example, in his "Lucrece Newtonien" (1782) Le
265:
I have been born with four dispositions well adapted for making progress in science, but with two great defects in the faculties necessary for that purpose. 1. An ardent desire to know the truth; 2. Great activity of mind; 3. An uncommon (justesse) soundness of understanding; 4. A strong desire for
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Prévost praised his friend Le Sage for "scrupulously giving credit to his predecessors in all of his writings". However, although he sometimes referred to those predecessors, he often spoke in a derogatory way about them – see his comments in "Lucrece
Newtonien", and his appraisal of Cramer as too
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Le Sage was worried about the possibility that people might think he had gotten the idea for the gravitation theory from Fatio, because he went to the trouble of making a "certificate", and having it signed by the mathematician
Pfleiderer and the astronomer Mallet (two friends of Le Sage), stating
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In the "Physique MĂ©canique" published by
Prevost after Le Sage's death, Fatio is mentioned in connection with the net structure of matter, but it goes on to claim that he (Le Sage) had developed the idea of the net structure already in 1763, before he was in possession of Fatio's original papers.
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A few years after Fatio's death (which occurred in 1753), Le Sage began trying to acquire Fatio's papers to – according to his own words – rescue them from oblivion, and also for a treatise he planned to write on the history of theories of gravitation. One of Fatio's papers was sent to Le Sage by
367:
The first exposition of his theory, "Essai sur l'origine des forces mortes", was created by him in 1748, but was never published. In 1756 one of Le Sage's expositions of the theory was published, and in 1758 he sent a more detailed exposition of the theory to another competition of the
Academy of
555:
Le Sage wrote to
Lambert in 1768: "Nicolas Fatio de Duillier had created a theory in 1689, which is so similar to mine, that it only differed in the elasticity, which he has given his intensely agitated matter". There he outlined the great similarity of the theories, but incorrectly claimed that
156:
and some notices of Le Sage, the education by his parents in his early years was very strict, and Le Sage reacted to this by isolating himself and with meditation on various subjects. Contrary to his father, who allegedly only accepted facts and had little interest in generalisation, Le Sage was
576:
According to Le Sage, after creating his first essay on gravitation, he was informed in 1748 by Firmin
Abauzit about a very similar theory of Gabriel Cramer, who happens to have been Le Sage's teacher in Geneva. In later years Le Sage responded in two different ways to charges that his ideas on
434:
The
Gagnebin edition from 1949 is based on three (of six) Geneva manuscripts (GM), which were preserved by Le Sage. It includes revisions made by Fatio as late as 1743, forty years after he composed the manuscript on which the Bopp edition was based. However, "Problems 2,3 and 4" contain the
317:. Maxwell wrote: "His theory of impact is faulty, but his explanation of the expansive force of gases" "is essentially the same as in the dynamical theory, as it now stands." Le Sage also clearly pointed out, that he was not the first one who described such a mechanism, and referred to
372:. The exposition of the theory which became accessible to a broader public was "Lucrèce Newtonien" ("The Newtonian Lucretius"), in which the correspondence with Lucretius' concepts was fully developed. Another exposition of the theory was published from Le Sage's notes posthumously by
409:
Abauzit in 1758, and other papers were acquired by Le Sage in 1766, 1770 and 1785. He also started a biographical note on Fatio, although he did not complete it, and he tried without success to publish some of Fatio's papers. The Geneva manuscripts were deposited in the
384:
Le Sage was not the first to propose what is now called "Le Sage's theory of gravity". Those who had described the theory previously include Fatio, Cramer, and Redeker. The extent to which Le Sage was influenced by these predecessors is a matter of controversy.
362:
Eureka, Eureka. Never have I had so much satisfaction as at this moment, when I have just explained rigorously, by the simple law of rectilinear motion, those of universal gravitation, which decreases in the same proportion as the squares of the distance
277:. As a consequence of his mental disposition, many of his papers remained unfinished and unpublished. For example: his main work on Gravitation; a history of theories of gravitation; a treatise on final causes; a biographical note on
580:
In 1751 Le Sage also became aware of Franz Albert Redeker's theory. Le Sage began to write a history of theories of gravitation, in which he intended to describe the theories of Fatio and Redeker, but he never finished it.
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In general, Le Sage and Prévost claimed that Le Sage's theory was superior to that of Fatio, but a more recent and detailed analysis of Fatio's paper by Zehe shows that it is Fatio's theory which is more developed.
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in Burgundy, and his mother Anne Marie Camp. His father, who was the author of many papers on various subjects, occupied his son of his own studies early, including the works of the Roman poet
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that, except for a copy made by Abauzit in 1758, Le Sage saw no papers of Fatio before 1766, and in these papers there was nothing which was not developed by Le Sage in a more detailed way.
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354:, which he subsequently worked on and defended throughout his life. Le Sage wrote in one of his cards, that he developed the basic features of the theory, which was later called
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Le Sage also suffered from insomnia, and as a result of this he often was unable to work for days. Additionally, in 1762 he had an accident which left him nearly blind.
238:
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Evans, J. C. (2002), "Gravity in the century of light: sources, construction and reception of Le Sage's theory of gravitation", in Edwards, M.R. (ed.),
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in 1818, and was called "Physique MĂ©canique de George Louis Le Sage", but it does not contain anything which was not published in the earlier papers.
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mathematically most advanced parts of Fatio's theory, and were not included by Gagnebin in his edition, because he ignored GM 4,5,6.
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Notices sur les auteurs des dix-sept volumes de «discours» de l'Encyclopédie. Recherches sur Diderot et sur l'Encyclopédie.
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To compensate the weakness of his memory, he wrote his thoughts on playing cards – over 35000 cards are still lying in the
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precision and distinctness of ideas; 5. An excessive weakness of memory; 6. A great incapacity of continued attention.
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The Bopp edition is a full reprint of the only completely surviving manuscript of Fatio, which was preserved by
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Le Sage took the first regular education at the college of Geneva, where he was friendly connected with
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Although Le Sage published few papers in his life, he had extensive letter exchanges with people like
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Prévost, Pierre: Notice de la Vie et des Ecrits de George Louis Le Sage. J.J. Paschoud, Geneva 1805
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in 1929. It contains every part of the Geneva manuscripts (including Problem 1, 2, 3 and 4).
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The theory now called "Le Sage's theory of gravity" was originally proposed in the 1690s by
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In his early youth Le Sage was strongly influenced by the writings of the Roman poet
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Le Sage also tried to explain the nature of gases. This attempt was appreciated by
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For the complete references see the biographies and the historical references in
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Comment pense un savant ? Un physicien des Lumières et ses cartes à jouer
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Not included, but some parts are similar to 5, 7–10, 12–16, 19–23, 27–36
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pp. 32–35 (Problem 1), 47–50 (Problem 2 & 3), 53–58 (Problem 4)
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and Aronson repeated Prevost's praise, based only on Prevost's account.
358:, already in 1743. Then on 15 January 1747 Le Sage wrote to his father:
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297:. The telegraph had a separate wire for each of the 26 letters of the
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Pushing Gravity: New Perspectives on Le Sage's Theory of Gravitation
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He gave private lessons in mathematics, and his pupils, including
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Not included, but the first part is similar to 27–34 (Problem 1)
281:. However, some of them were posthumously published by his pupil
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Le Sage described his manner of thinking and working by saying:
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Comparison of Fatio's papers: Zehe (1980), pp. 285–309
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Against the will of his father Le Sage devoted his life to
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Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London
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primarily interested in general and abstract principles.
782:"Notice de la Vie et des Ecrits de George Louis Le Sage"
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partially pp. 22–39 and pp. 47–49 (Problem 2)
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Notice de la Vie et des Ecrits de George Louis Le Sage
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by Prévost after Le Sage's death and are still there.
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and its range was only between two rooms of his home.
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18th-century physicists from the Republic of Geneva
191:and, in particular, a search for the mechanisms of
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736:Le Sage, 1818, pp. 45 & 62; Zehe, 1980, p. 411
350:and incorporated some of Lucretius' ideas into a
995:18th-century writers from the Republic of Geneva
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990:Contributors to the Encyclopédie (1751–1772)
817:Biographien zur Kulturgeschichte der Schweiz
832:, Montreal: C. Roy Keys Inc., pp. 9–40
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253:. Le Sage died at the age of 79 in Geneva.
849:"Über die Wärmeleitung gasförmiger Körper"
447:Corresponding sections in Gagnebin edition
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20:
16:Genevan physicist and inventor (1724–1803)
618:1989, Volume 7, Numéro 7, p. 148–149
176:. Later he decided to study medicine in
102:; 13 June 1724 – 9 November 1803) was a
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594:vague and scientifically not valuable.
352:mechanical explanation of gravitation
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798:"Biographical account of M. Le Sage"
775:An English summary can be found in:
682:Mercure de France, May 1756, 153–171
572:Gabriel Cramer, Franz Albert Redeker
771:, Geneva & Paris: J.J. Paschoud
884:"On the Dynamical Theory of Gases"
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164:. Besides philosophy, he studied
144:, was Georges-Louis Le Sage from
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487:17 October 1770 by F. Jallabert
745:Le Sage's theory of gravitation
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152:at the age of 13. According to
940:Works by Georges-Louis Le Sage
140:, his father, a descendant of
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473:29 March 1766 by J.P. Mallet
293:In 1774 he realised an early
985:Fellows of the Royal Society
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117:and his anticipation of the
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518:pp. 50–56 (Problem 4)
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251:Fellow of the Royal Society
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646:Prevost, 1805, pp. 176–178
142:Théodore Agrippa d'Aubigné
121:. He was a contributor to
113:, for his invention of an
109:and is most known for his
806:, Robert Baldwin: 241–252
395:Nicolas Fatio de Duillier
279:Nicolas Fatio de Duillier
30:
873:10.1002/andp.18621910102
216:Johann Heinrich Lambert
200:Jean le Rond d'Alembert
119:kinetic theory of gases
900:10.1098/rstl.1867.0004
813:"George-Louis Le Sage"
727:Le Sage, 1784, p. 157.
637:Playfair, 1807, p. 145
380:Le Sage's predecessors
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212:Roger Joseph Boscovich
934:Georges-Louis Le Sage
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174:Jean-Louis Calandrini
111:theory of gravitation
91:Georges-Louis Le Sage
38:Georges-Louis Le Sage
25:Georges-Louis Le Sage
913:Jean-François Bert,
803:Annals of Philosophy
257:Character and health
220:Pierre Simon Laplace
172:, and physics under
136:Le Sage was born in
865:1862AnP...191....1C
718:Zehe (1980), p. 277
459:Corresponding pages
315:James Clerk Maxwell
853:Annalen der Physik
673:Evans, 2002, p. 18
452:Date of submission
442:Geneva manuscripts
403:Christiaan Huygens
397:, a friend of Sir
295:electric telegraph
132:Life and education
115:electric telegraph
63:Republic of Geneva
932:Works related to
811:Wolf, R. (1862),
614:Frank A. Kafker:
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427:and published by
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980:Protestants
970:1803 deaths
965:1724 births
859:(1): 1–57,
794:Thomson, T.
763:Prévost, P.
756:Biographies
596:Lord Kelvin
337:Gravitation
208:Paolo Frisi
189:mathematics
166:mathematics
959:Categories
751:References
454:to Le Sage
123:Diderot's
51:1724-06-13
894:: 49–88,
823:: 173–192
788:: 137–153
429:Karl Bopp
363:increase.
348:Lucretius
331:Bernoulli
319:Lucretius
289:Telegraph
150:Lucretius
107:physicist
944:LibriVox
908:96568430
882:(1867),
847:(1862),
796:(1818),
780:(1807),
529:Unknown
515:Unknown
501:Unknown
323:Gassendi
299:alphabet
80:Geneva,
861:Bibcode
585:Summary
374:Prévost
342:History
327:Hermann
193:gravity
146:Couches
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95:French:
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498:16–35
470:34–52
234:etc..
168:under
138:Geneva
82:France
59:Geneva
904:S2CID
602:Notes
484:1–24
389:Fatio
370:Euler
178:Basel
537:GM6
523:GM5
509:GM4
495:GM3
481:GM2
467:GM1
401:and
329:and
313:and
70:Died
45:Born
942:at
896:doi
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