awareness of our own existence and the truths of mathematics.
Jean le Rond d’Alembert
Born in Paris in 1717, abandoned at Saint-Jean-le-Rond church, Jean le Rond d’Alembert was raised by a foster mother yet secretly supported by his father. Educated at Collège des Quatre-Nations, he turned from theology and law to mathematics, publishing Traité de dynamique (1743), which introduced d’Alembert’s principle. He advanced mechanics, fluid dynamics, and formulated the wave equation, leaving a mark on physics and analysis. As co-editor with Denis Diderot of the Encyclopédie, he championed Enlightenment rationalism, though controversies led him to withdraw. A member of the Academy of Sciences, he influenced Laplace and Condorcet. D’Alembert died in Paris in 1783, revered as a voice of reason.
“The more wit we have, the less satisfied we are with it.”
