Bouguer

Pierre Bouguer

Born: 16 Feb 1698 in Le Croisic, France
Died: 15 Aug 1758 in Paris, France

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Pierre Bouguer succeeded his father Jean Bouguer at the age of 15 as royal professor of hydrography. He was a scientist who was the first to attempt to measure the density of the Earth using the deflection of a plumb line due to the attraction of a mountain.

Bouguer, together with La Condamine, made measurements in Peru in 1740 publishing his results in La Figure de la terre (1749). A more successful use of this method by the astronomer Maskeleyne placed the density between 4.5 and 5.

In mathematics Bouguer studied pursuit curves in 1732. He also wrote on naval manoeuvres and navigation and, in ship design, derived a formula for calculating the metacentric radius (a measure of ship stability).

References elsewhere in this archive:

Bouguer worked on the Pursuit Curve

References:

  1. Dictionary of Scientific Biography
  2. Biography in Encyclopaedia Britannica
  3. J P G de Fouchy, Éloge de M Bouguer, Histoire de l'Académie Royal des Sciences Paris (1758), 127-136.
  4. R Lamontagne, La vie et l'oeuvre de Pierre Bouguer (Montreal, 1964). 
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JOC/EFR February 1996