[Émilie du CHÂTELET]. Jean-Jacques Dourtous... - Lot 20 - Conan Belleville Hôtel d'Ainay

Lot 20
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800 - 1000 EUR
[Émilie du CHÂTELET]. Jean-Jacques Dourtous... - Lot 20 - Conan Belleville Hôtel d'Ainay
[Émilie du CHÂTELET]. Jean-Jacques Dourtous de MAIRAN (1678-1771), mathematician, astronomer and geophysicist, permanent secretary of the Academy of Sciences. Autograph manuscript. 1 p. in-4, "A Tremblay", September 22, 1738. Minute of answer to Emilie du Châtelet. Dortous de Mairan noted at the top: "Rép. A la lettre de Mme la m. du Ch. du 18 7bre 1738". "I did not think that there was anything more positive to give on the question in question, than a demonstration in the forms. However, since Madame la Marquise Du Châtelet requires from me another kind of assertion of my feelings, I will obey her. I do not have to examine whether the rays of light describe a cycloid as they pass through our atmosphere: I am strongly inclined to believe this according to M. Bernouilli. But whether the rays of light describe a cycloid in the atmosphere or not, I formally deny that it follows from this that the path of refraction such as the experiments give it, and that M. Newton determined it, is that of the shortest time ". Provenance : former collection of the baron de Trémont, sale of December 9, 1852 (n°437).
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