Louis François Cauchy (27 May 1760 – 28 December 1848) was a senior French government official and the father of the

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, Mathematica ...

Augustin-Louis Cauchy Baron Augustin-Louis Cauchy ( , , ; ; 21 August 1789 – 23 May 1857) was a French mathematician, engineer, and physicist. He was one of the first to rigorously state and prove the key theorems of calculus (thereby creating real a ...

. Born on 27 May 1760 in

Rouen Rouen (, ; or ) is a city on the River Seine, in northwestern France. It is in the prefecture of Regions of France, region of Normandy (administrative region), Normandy and the Departments of France, department of Seine-Maritime. Formerly one ...

into an upper-middle-class family, Cauchy successfully studied at the Collège de Lisieux in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

. In 1771 he received the top prize in the

concours général In France, the Concours Général (), created in 1747, is the most prestigious academic competition held every year between students of ''Première'' (11th grade) and ''Terminale'' (12th and final grade) in almost all subjects taught in both genera ...

. He became a lawyer at the

Parlement Under the French Ancien Régime, a ''parlement'' () was a provincial appellate court of the Kingdom of France. In 1789, France had 13 ''parlements'', the original and most important of which was the ''Parlement'' of Paris. Though both th ...

Normandy Normandy (; or ) is a geographical and cultural region in northwestern Europe, roughly coextensive with the historical Duchy of Normandy. Normandy comprises Normandy (administrative region), mainland Normandy (a part of France) and insular N ...

, and in 1783 he joined the office of the Intendant Général of Rouen, Louis Thiroux de Crosne. When de Crosne took charge of the

police The police are Law enforcement organization, a constituted body of Law enforcement officer, people empowered by a State (polity), state with the aim of Law enforcement, enforcing the law and protecting the Public order policing, public order ...

, Cauchy followed him as his senior aide. In October 1787 he married Marie-Madeleine Desestre, who came from a family of Parisian officers, and the couple had four children,

(1789–1857), Alexandre Laurent Cauchy (1792–1857), Eugène François Cauchy (1802–1877) and a daughter. On the year of Augustin-Louis Cauchy's birth, Louis François moved his entire family to the small village of Arcueil. In April 1794, de Crosne was executed by the French revolutionary government. Cauchy then had no official role until the country came under the rule of

Napoleon Bonaparte Napoleon Bonaparte (born Napoleone di Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French general and statesman who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led Military career ...

. In 1800, he was elected Keeper of the Seals ( Garde des Sceaux) in the French Senate, and also became secretary and archivist of the Chamber of Peers. He was

ennobled Nobility is a social class found in many societies that have an aristocracy. It is normally appointed by and ranked immediately below royalty. Nobility has often been an estate of the realm with many exclusive functions and characteristics. Th ...

by King Charles X in 1825. He died in Arcueil in 1848.

Bibliography

Bruno Belhoste : Cauchy, un mathématicien légitimiste au XIXème Siècle

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cauchy, Louis Francois 18th-century French people 19th-century French people French civil servants 1760 births 1848 deaths