Joseph François Français was a French mathematician. François Français worked extensively on

differential calculus In mathematics, differential calculus is a subfield of calculus that studies the rates at which quantities change. It is one of the two traditional divisions of calculus, the other being integral calculus—the study of the area beneath a curve. ...

. He developed on the previous work of

Jean-Robert Argand Jean-Robert Argand (, , ; July 18, 1768 – August 13, 1822) was an amateur mathematician. In 1806, while managing a bookstore in Paris, he published the idea of geometrical interpretation of complex numbers known as the Argand diagram and is known ...

complex numbers In mathematics, a complex number is an element of a number system that extends the real numbers with a specific element denoted , called the imaginary unit and satisfying the equation i^= -1; every complex number can be expressed in the form a ...

Biography

Johanniterkommende Mainz2010 20100615 0009

François Français was a student in a seminary and afterwards he became a teacher at

Colmar Colmar (, ; Alsatian: ' ; German during 1871–1918 and 1940–1945: ') is a city and commune in the Haut-Rhin department and Grand Est region of north-eastern France. The third-largest commune in Alsace (after Strasbourg and Mulhouse), it is ...

College in 1791 for one year and then moved to

Strasbourg Strasbourg (, , ; german: Straßburg ; gsw, label=Bas Rhin Alsatian, Strossburi , gsw, label=Haut Rhin Alsatian, Strossburig ) is the prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est region of eastern France and the official seat of the Eu ...

College in 1792. The aftermath of the

French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are considere ...

of 1789 interrupted his career. Not everyone supported the government that formed after the revolution. The revolution overthrew the monarchy of King Louis XVI to establish a republic but brought in years of turmoil that finally led to the rise of Napoleon. France faced both internal and external wars. A civil war broke out in 1793 in the coastal region of

Vendée Vendée (; br, Vande) is a department in the Pays de la Loire region in Western France, on the Atlantic coast. In 2019, it had a population of 685,442.

in western France as a reaction against the imposition of conscription. This became known as the Guerre de Vendée or

War in the Vendée The war in the Vendée (french: link=no, Guerre de Vendée) was a counter-revolution from 1793 to 1796 in the Vendée region of France during the French Revolution. The Vendée is a coastal region, located immediately south of the river Loir ...

. The next month royalists and peasants came together in February 1793 and formed an army to fight the new republic. The

Jacobin , logo = JacobinVignette03.jpg , logo_size = 180px , logo_caption = Seal of the Jacobin Club (1792–1794) , motto = "Live free or die"(french: Vivre libre ou mourir) , successor = Pa ...

government back in Paris considered the rebellion to be

counter-revolutionary A counter-revolutionary or an anti-revolutionary is anyone who opposes or resists a revolution, particularly one who acts after a revolution in order to try to overturn it or reverse its course, in full or in part. The adjective "counter-revoluti ...

, and

Royalist A royalist supports a particular monarch as head of state for a particular kingdom, or of a particular dynastic claim. In the abstract, this position is royalism. It is distinct from monarchism, which advocates a monarchical system of governme ...

. François Français joined the government's side in May and became a part of the army's response to put down this rebellion of the royalists and peasants who numbered about 80,000 men. Fighting continued until Dec 1793 but by the summer months the rebellion had lost its steam without a clear strategy. Fighting a defensive war against the government in Paris the rebellions lost 180,000 men against the governments’ 30,000 casualties. Français had already left the army in October to continue teaching but he did go back to serve in the army. In October 1797 he went to

to become professor of mathematics at the École Centrale du Haut-Rhin. Than in September 1803, he moved to

Mainz Mainz () is the capital and largest city of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Mainz is on the left bank of the Rhine, opposite to the place that the Main (river), Main joins the Rhine. Downstream of the confluence, the Rhine flows to the north-we ...

to be a High School Math teacher, He taught at the artillery school in Mainz. He did not publish his 1795 dissertation on

partial differential equations In mathematics, a partial differential equation (PDE) is an equation which imposes relations between the various partial derivatives of a multivariable function. The function is often thought of as an "unknown" to be solved for, similarly to ...

, from the Académie des Sciences but his papers were used by

Sylvestre François Lacroix Sylvestre François Lacroix (28 April 176524 May 1843) was a French mathematician. Life He was born in Paris, and was raised in a poor family who still managed to obtain a good education for their son. Lacroix's path to mathematics started wit ...

after François Français’ death. François Français worked and wrote closely with several important mathematicians during his life and kept in contact with

Adrien-Marie Legendre Adrien-Marie Legendre (; ; 18 September 1752 – 9 January 1833) was a French mathematician who made numerous contributions to mathematics. Well-known and important concepts such as the Legendre polynomials and Legendre transformation are named ...

Joseph-Louis Lagrange Joseph-Louis Lagrange (born Giuseppe Luigi LagrangiaJean-Baptiste Biot Jean-Baptiste Biot (; ; 21 April 1774 – 3 February 1862) was a French physicist, astronomer, and mathematician who co-discovered the Biot–Savart law of magnetostatics with Félix Savart, established the reality of meteorites, made an early ba ...

. While nothing of François Français' work was published, after his death his brother,

Jacques Frédéric Français Jacques Frédéric Français (20 June 1775 – 9 March 1833) was a French engineer and mathematician. Biography Born on 20 June 1775, Jacques Frédéric Français was the son of a grocer of Saverne. He attended the Royal College of Strasbourg ...

, published the treatise ''Recherches sur la poussée des terres'' (1817).

References

External links

* Articles dans les ''

Annales de mathématiques pures et appliquées The ''Annales de Mathématiques Pures et Appliquées'', commonly known as the ''Annales de Gergonne'', was a mathematical journal published in Nimes, France from 1810 to 1831 by Joseph Diez Gergonne. The annals were largely devoted to geometry, ...

'' (vol. 2, mai 1812, pp. 325–331; vol. 3, 1812, pp. 189–191; vol. 4, 1814, pp. 305–319; vol. 5, 1815, pp. 341–350) * Biot,

Laplace Pierre-Simon, marquis de Laplace (; ; 23 March 1749 – 5 March 1827) was a French scholar and polymath whose work was important to the development of engineering, mathematics, statistics, physics, astronomy, and philosophy. He summarized ...

et Legendre, �
Rapport sur un mémoire de M. Français
», ''Procès-verbaux des séances de l'Académie des sciences, classe des sciences physiques et mathématiques'', vol. III, 1804, pp. 204–205 {{DEFAULTSORT:Francais, Francois 1768 births 1810 deaths 18th-century French mathematicians French mathematicians