Brianchon

Charles Julien Brianchon

Born: 19 Dec 1783 in Sèvres, France
Died: 29 April 1864 in Versailles, France

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Brianchon studied under Monge at the École Polytechnique in Paris. Brianchon rediscovered Pascal's Magic Hexagon while a student and went on to discover several important results in the projective study of conics. He showed that in any hexagon formed of six tangents to a conic, the three diagonals meet at a point. This result is often called Brianchon's Theorem.

Four years after graduating in 1804 Brianchon joined Napoleon's army but despite a fine military career he left through ill health in 1818 to become a professor in the Artillery School of the Royal Guard, Vincennes. Brianchon did less and less mathematics after this appointment and he turned to other interests.

References:

  1. Dictionary of Scientific Biography
  2. Biography in Encyclopaedia Britannica 
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