Color portrait of Émilie du Châtelet. She has papers spread out before her and holds a compass to them with her right hand. Her left elbow rests on the table and her hand is propped against her cheek. She is wearing a green dress with a green bow at her neck, and white frilly sleeves.

Notices where this attachment appears

1. Robert McNees (mcnees@mastodon.social)'s status on Saturday, 17-Dec-2022 17:23:14 UTC Robert McNees

   Émilie du Châtelet, who hypothesized conservation of energy, established kinetic energy as distinct from momentum and proportional to (speed)², and combined work by Newton and Leibniz with her own original ideas in "Institutions de Physique," was born #OTD in 1706.

   Du Châtelet is an important figure in the development of classical physics, but she is not nearly as well known as many of her male contemporaries.

   Portrait: M. Q. de La Tour