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Pierre Louis Maupertuis
Pierre Louis Moreau de Maupertuis (; ; 1698 – 27 July 1759) was a French mathematician, philosopher and man of letters. He became the director of the Académie des Sciences and the first president of the Prussian Academy of Science, at the invitation of Frederick the Great. Maupertuis made an expedition to Lapland to determine the shape of the Earth. He is often credited with having discovered the principle of least action – a version of which is known as Maupertuis's principle – which he expressed as an integral equation that describes the path followed by a physical system. His work in natural history is interesting in relation to modern science since he touched on aspects of heredity and the struggle for life. Biography Maupertuis was born at Saint-Malo, France, to a moderately wealthy family of merchant- corsairs. His father, Renė, had been involved in a number of enterprises that were central to the monarchy so that he thrived socially and politically. The son ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Robert Tournières
Robert Le Vrac de Tournières (17 June 1667 – 18 May 1752) was a French painter. After the Second World War, a street in the new Saint-Paul district of his home city of Caen was named ''rue Robert Tournières''.''Les 50.000 adresses du Calvados et Annuaire Administratif Réunis'', Caen, 1964, p. 509. Life Studying under Lucas Delahaye, then under Bon Boullogne and Hyacinthe Rigaud, Rigaud, Tournières was notable for being received twice into the Académie royale de peinture – first in 1702 as a portrait painter, with his portraits of the painters Pierre Mosnier and Michel Corneille; and then on 24 October 1716, as a history painter, with his ''Invention of drawing'' (1716), showing a pair of lovers lit by a single candle. Promoted to professeur auxiliaire in 1737, he exhibited successfully at the 1742 salon. His œuvre's heterogenous nature is typical of an artist of the transitional period of the French Regency – the Dutch elements give his work a new and more intimate c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mathematician
A mathematician is someone who uses an extensive knowledge of mathematics in their work, typically to solve mathematical problems. Mathematicians are concerned with numbers, data, quantity, mathematical structure, structure, space, Mathematical model, models, and mathematics#Calculus and analysis, change. History One of the earliest known mathematicians was Thales of Miletus (); he has been hailed as the first true mathematician and the first known individual to whom a mathematical discovery has been attributed. He is credited with the first use of deductive reasoning applied to geometry, by deriving four corollaries to Thales's theorem. The number of known mathematicians grew when Pythagoras of Samos () established the Pythagorean school, whose doctrine it was that mathematics ruled the universe and whose motto was "All is number". It was the Pythagoreans who coined the term "mathematics", and with whom the study of mathematics for its own sake begins. The first woman math ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Monarchy
A monarchy is a form of government in which a person, the monarch, reigns as head of state for the rest of their life, or until abdication. The extent of the authority of the monarch may vary from restricted and largely symbolic (constitutional monarchy), to fully autocratic (absolute monarchy), and may have Political representation, representational, Executive (government), executive, legislative, and judicial functions. The Order of succession, succession of monarchs has mostly been Hereditary monarchy, hereditary, often building dynasties; however, monarchies can also be elective monarchy, elective and Self-proclaimed monarchy, self-proclaimed. Aristocracy (class), Aristocrats, though not inherent to monarchies, often function as the pool of persons from which the monarch is chosen, and to fill the constituting institutions (e.g. Diet (assembly), diet and Royal court, court), giving many monarchies oligarchic elements. The Legitimacy (political)#Monarchy, political legitim ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
French Corsairs
Corsairs () were privateers, authorised to conduct raids on shipping of a foreign state at war with the Kingdom of France, on behalf of the French crown. Seized vessels and cargo were sold at auction, with the corsair captain entitled to a portion of the proceeds. Although not History of the French Navy, French Navy personnel, corsairs were considered legitimate combatants in France (and allied nations), provided the commanding officer of the vessel was in possession of a valid letter of marque ( or , the latter giving ''corsairs'' their name), and the officers and crew conducted themselves according to contemporary admiralty law. By acting on behalf of the French Crown, if captured by the enemy, they could in principle claim treatment as prisoners of war, instead of being considered pirates. Because corsairs gained a swashbuckling reputation, the word "corsair" is also used generically as a more romantic or flamboyant way of referring to privateers, or even to pirates. The Barbar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Struggle For Life
The concept of the struggle for existence (or struggle for life) concerns the competition or battle for resources needed to live. It can refer to human society, or to organisms in nature. The concept is ancient, and the term ''struggle for existence'' was in use by the end of the 18th century. From the 17th century onwards the concept was associated with a population exceeding resources, an issue shown starkly in Thomas Robert Malthus’ ''An Essay on the Principle of Population'' which drew on Benjamin Franklin's '' Observations Concerning the Increase of Mankind, Peopling of Countries, etc.''. Charles Darwin used the phrase "struggle for existence" in a broader sense, and chose the term as the title to the third chapter of ''On the Origin of Species'' published in 1859. Using Malthus's idea of the struggle for existence, Darwin was able to develop his view of adaptation, which was highly influential in the formulation of the theory of natural selection.Ospovat, Dov. ''The Develo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Heredity
Heredity, also called inheritance or biological inheritance, is the passing on of traits from parents to their offspring; either through asexual reproduction or sexual reproduction, the offspring cells or organisms acquire the genetic information of their parents. Through heredity, variations between individuals can accumulate and cause species to evolve by natural selection. The study of heredity in biology is genetics. Overview In humans, eye color is an example of an inherited characteristic: an individual might inherit the "brown-eye trait" from one of the parents. Inherited traits are controlled by genes and the complete set of genes within an organism's genome is called its genotype. The complete set of observable traits of the structure and behavior of an organism is called its phenotype. These traits arise from the interaction of the organism's genotype with the environment. As a result, many aspects of an organism's phenotype are not inherited. For example, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Natural History
Natural history is a domain of inquiry involving organisms, including animals, fungi, and plants, in their natural environment, leaning more towards observational than experimental methods of study. A person who studies natural history is called a naturalist or natural historian. Natural history encompasses scientific research but is not limited to it. It involves the systematic study of any category of natural objects or organisms, so while it dates from studies in the ancient Greco-Roman world and the mediaeval Arabic world, through to European Renaissance naturalists working in near isolation, today's natural history is a cross-discipline umbrella of many specialty sciences; e.g., geobiology has a strong multidisciplinary nature. Definitions Before 1900 The meaning of the English term "natural history" (a calque of the Latin ''historia naturalis'') has narrowed progressively with time, while, by contrast, the meaning of the related term "nature" has widened (see also ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Maupertuis's Principle
In classical mechanics, Maupertuis's principle (named after Pierre Louis Maupertuis, 1698 – 1759) states that the path followed by a physical system is the one of least length (with a suitable interpretation of ''path'' and ''length''). It is a special case of the more generally stated principle of least action. Using the calculus of variations, it results in an integral equation formulation of the equations of motion for the system. Mathematical formulation Maupertuis's principle states that the true path of a system described by N generalized coordinates \mathbf = \left( q_, q_, \ldots, q_ \right) between two specified states \mathbf_ and \mathbf_ is a minimum or a saddle point of the Action (physics)#Abbreviated action (functional), abbreviated action functional, \mathcal_[\mathbf(t)] \ \stackrel\ \int \mathbf \cdot d\mathbf, where \mathbf = \left( p_, p_, \ldots, p_ \right) are the conjugate momenta of the generalized coordinates, defined by the equation p_ \ \stack ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Principle Of Least Action
Action principles lie at the heart of fundamental physics, from classical mechanics through quantum mechanics, particle physics, and general relativity. Action principles start with an energy function called a Lagrangian describing the physical system. The accumulated value of this energy function between two states of the system is called the action. Action principles apply the calculus of variation to the action. The action depends on the energy function, and the energy function depends on the position, motion, and interactions in the system: variation of the action allows the derivation of the equations of motion without vectors or forces. Several distinct action principles differ in the constraints on their initial and final conditions. The names of action principles have evolved over time and differ in details of the endpoints of the paths and the nature of the variation. Quantum action principles generalize and justify the older classical principles by showing they are a di ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Earth
Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to Planetary habitability, harbor life. This is enabled by Earth being an ocean world, the only one in the Solar System sustaining liquid surface water. Almost all of Earth's water is contained in its global ocean, covering Water distribution on Earth, 70.8% of Earth's crust. The remaining 29.2% of Earth's crust is land, most of which is located in the form of continental landmasses within Earth's land hemisphere. Most of Earth's land is at least somewhat humid and covered by vegetation, while large Ice sheet, sheets of ice at Polar regions of Earth, Earth's polar polar desert, deserts retain more water than Earth's groundwater, lakes, rivers, and Water vapor#In Earth's atmosphere, atmospheric water combined. Earth's crust consists of slowly moving tectonic plates, which interact to produce mountain ranges, volcanoes, and earthquakes. Earth's outer core, Earth has a liquid outer core that generates a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sápmi
is the cultural region traditionally inhabited by the Sámi people. Sápmi includes the northern parts of Fennoscandia, stretching over four countries: Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Russia. Most of Sápmi lies north of the Arctic Circle, bounded by the Barents Sea, Norwegian Sea, and White Sea."Lapland." Encyclopædia Britannica. ''Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Encyclopædia Britannica'', 2009. Web. 24 November 2009 http://search.eb.com/eb/article-9047170. In south, Sápmi extends to the counties of Trøndelag in Norway and Jämtland in Sweden. Most of the Sámi population is concentrated in a few traditional areas in the northernmost part of Sápmi, such as Kautokeino and Karasjok. Inari is considered one of the centres of Sámi culture. In past, the Sámi settlement reached much farther to south, possibly to present-day Oslo in west and the lakes Ladoga and Onega in east. Sápmi has never been a sovereign political entity. Since 1970s–1990s, the Sámi have a limi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Frederick The Great
Frederick II (; 24 January 171217 August 1786) was the monarch of Prussia from 1740 until his death in 1786. He was the last Hohenzollern monarch titled ''King in Prussia'', declaring himself ''King of Prussia'' after annexing Royal Prussia from the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1772. His most significant accomplishments include military successes in the Silesian Wars, Silesian wars, reorganisation of the Prussian Army, the First Partition of Poland, and patronage of the arts and the Enlightenment. Prussia greatly increased its territories and became a major military power in Europe under his rule. He became known as Frederick the Great () and was nicknamed "Old Fritz" (). In his youth, Frederick was more interested in music and philosophy than war, which led to clashes with his authoritarian father, Frederick William I of Prussia. However, upon ascending to the throne, he attacked and annexed the rich Habsburg monarchy, Austrian province of Silesia in 1742, winning mi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
