Willful Ignorance by Herbert I. Weisberg

Author:Herbert I. Weisberg [Weisberg, Herbert]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781118593790
Publisher: Wiley
Published: 2014-05-15T00:00:00+00:00

The French Newton

Pierre-Simon Laplace was born at Beaumont-en-Auge in the Normandy region of France on March 23, 1749.27 His early life has not been well documented. His father may have been a cider merchant, who envisioned for Pierre-Simon a clerical career. In 1765, Laplace was sent off to the University of Caen to study theology. However, under the influence of two professors there, he soon turned from theology to mathematics. Armed with a letter of introduction, he ventured off to Paris in 1768 to study under D'Alembert, who at age 51 was at the height of his influence. After some initial skepticism, D'Alembert quickly became convinced of Laplace's extraordinary talent and agreed to tutor him. He also arranged for Laplace to obtain a teaching post at the École Militaire (Military School), the academy for training young cadets.

Before long, Laplace was cranking out a stream of original papers related to astronomy and mathematics. By 1773 this work, along with the sponsorship of D'Alembert and Condorcet, had secured him an appointment to the Academy of Sciences. As an associate member, he received financial support that allowed him to pursue full-time his various researches. Two of Laplace's earliest research reports concerned the doctrine of chances. One of these, delivered in 1774, was entitled “Memoir on the Probability of the Causes Given the Events.” The essence of this work was similar to that of Thomas Bayes's posthumous essay, which was hardly known in England, let alone France. Laplace described his topic as:

a question which has not been given due consideration before, but which deserves even more to be studied, for it is principally from this point of view that the science of chances can be useful in civil life.28

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