Antoine de Laloubère, also Lalouvère and other forms, (24 August 1600 – 2 September 1664), a

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, born in

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(

Rieux-Volvestre Rieux-Volvestre (before June 2009: ''Rieux'';Pascal Pascal, Pascal's or PASCAL may refer to: People and fictional characters * Pascal (given name), including a list of people with the name * Pascal (surname), including a list of people and fictional characters with the name ** Blaise Pascal, Fren ...

's problems on the cycloid, which he gave in 1660, but he has a better claim to distinction in having been the first mathematician to study the properties of the helix.

Biography

Antoine de Lalouvère was born into an aristocratic family. On July 9, 1620, at the age of 20, he entered the Society of Jesus in Toulouse. After completing his religious training, he was

ordained Ordination is the process by which individuals are consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the denominational hierarchy composed of other clergy) to perform va ...

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in 1631 or 1632. He later taught

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and

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at the jesuit college of Toulouse. With

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, Fermat, Vincentio,

Kepler Johannes Kepler (; ; 27 December 1571 – 15 November 1630) was a German astronomer, mathematician, astrologer, natural philosopher and writer on music. He is a key figure in the 17th-century Scientific Revolution, best known for his laws o ...

, Torricelli and

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, Lalouvere can be considered one of the forerunners of modern integral calculus. In his main work of 1651, ''Quadratura Circuli'', he calculates volumes and centers of gravity by inverting the rule of Paul Guldin. As a geometer Lalouvère is also the first to have studied the properties of the helix. In 1658, he was engaged in a resounding controversy with Blaise Pascal who accused him of plagiarizing

Gilles de Roberval Gilles Personne de Roberval (August 10, 1602 – October 27, 1675), French mathematician, was born at Roberval near Beauvais, France. His name was originally Gilles Personne or Gilles Personier, with Roberval the place of his birth. Biography ...

's solution of the ″roulette″ problem. Pascal advertised in 1658 a prize for problems about bodies formed by cycloides (volumes, center of mass), to which Laloubére contributed a solution sent to Pascal, which was faulty and was not accepted by Pascal. The accusation of Pascal seems now unfounded. This conflict revived Lalouvère's interest in geometry - at that time he was a professor of theology - and he composed in 1660 Veterum geometria promota in septem de cycloide libris'''. De Laloubère died at

Toulouse Toulouse ( , ; oc, Tolosa ) is the prefecture of the French department of Haute-Garonne and of the larger region of Occitania. The city is on the banks of the River Garonne, from the Mediterranean Sea, from the Atlantic Ocean and from Par ...

on September 2, 1664.

Works

*
Quadratura Circuli Et Hyperbolae Segmentorum
', 1651;Le titre complet est : ''Quadratura Circuli Et Hyperbolae Segmentorum ex dato eorum centro gravitatis, una cum inventione proportionis et centri gravitatis in portionibus sphaerae plurimorumque periphericorum, nec non tertragonismo absoluto certae cujusdam cylindri partis: Demonstrata atque ad calculum reducta adjumento librae Archimedeae et a materia divulsae, quam praesenti Opere restaurat atque amplificat'' * ''De Cycloide Galilaei et Torricelli propositions viginli'', Toulouse, août 1658 ; * ''Responsio ad duplicem quaestionem moralem'', Toulouse, 11 décembre 1658 ; *
Veterum Geometrica promota in septem de Cycloide Libris et in duobus adjectis Apprendicibus
' (with Arnaldum Colomerium), Toulouse, 1660 .

References

:''This article is based on a

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article from

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.''

Bibliography

* Joseph MacDonnell, ''Jesuit geometers'', St Louis (États-Unis), Inst. of Jesuit sources, 1989. * Michel Serfati, Dominique Descotes, ''Mathématiciens français du xvii^e siècle : Descartes, Fermat, Pascal'', Presses universitaires Blaise Pascal, 2008. * Marie Couton, ''Emprunt, plagiat, réécriture aux XV^e, XVI^e, xvii^e siècles : pour un nouvel éclairage sur la pratique des Lettres à La Renaissance'', Université de Clermont-Ferrand II, Presses universitaires Blaise Pascal, Clermont-Ferrand, 2008. *Herbert Oettel: ''Lalouvère, Antoine de'', in: Dictionary of Scientific Biography, Volume 7, p. 583-584 * Paul Tannery: ''Pascal et Lalouvère, Mémoires de la Societé des Sciences Physiques et Naturelles de Bordeaux, Ser. 3, Volume 5, 1890, p. 55-84 . 1600 births 1664 deaths 17th-century French Jesuits Catholic clergy scientists 17th-century French mathematicians Jesuit scientists People from Haute-Garonne {{France-mathematician-stub

Biography

Works

See also

References

Bibliography