Fontaine des Bertins

Alexis Fontaine des Bertins

Born: 13 Aug 1704 in Claveyson, Drôme, France
Died: 21 Aug 1771 in Cuiseaux, Saône-et-Loire, France

Previous (Chronologically) Next     Biographies Index

Previous ( Alphabetically) Next          Welcome page
Fontaine studied mathematics in Paris under Castel and became friends with Clairaut and Maupertuis. He led a solitary life showing little interest in the work of others. His papers are rather confused, and ignorant of the work of others, but contain some very original ideas in the calculus of variations, differential equations and the theory of equations.

In 1734 Fontaine gave a more general solution of the tautochrone problem than Huygens, Newton, Euler or Jacob Bernoulli and his methods led to the calculus of variations. However he rather spoilt this fine contribution by, in 1767 and 1768, unjustly criticising Lagrange's method of variation presented in 1762.

References:

  1. Dictionary of Scientific Biography
  2. J M C de Condorcet, Éloge de M Fontaine, Histoire de l'Académie royale des sciences 1771 (Paris, 1774), 105-116. 
Previous (Chronologically) Next     Biographies Index

Previous ( Alphabetically) Next          Welcome page

History Topics Index              Famous curves index

Chronologies                           Birthplace Map

Mathematicians of the day  Anniversaries for the year

Search Form   Simple Search Form   Search Suggestions
JOC/EFR February 1996