The Man Who Flattened the Earth by Mary Terrall

The Man Who Flattened the Earth by Mary Terrall

Self-styled adventurer, literary wit, and statesman of science, Pierre-Louis Moreau de Maupertuis (1698 - 1759) stood at the center of Enlightenment science and culture. With "The Man Who Flattened the Earth", Mary Terrall offers an elegant portrait of this remarkable man, revealing just how his private life and public works made him a man of science in eighteenth-century Europe. Maupertuis entered the public eye with a much-discussed expedition to Lapland and went on to make significant and often intentionally controversial contributions to physics, life science, and astronomy. Equally at ease in cafes and royal courts, Maupertuis used his social connections and his printed works to enhance a carefully constructed reputation as both a man of letters and a man of science. Terrall not only illuminates the life and work of Maupertuis but also delves into larger Enlightenment issues, including the development of scientific institutions, the impact of print culture on science, and the often vexed interactions of science and government.

"Terrall's work is scholarship in the best senseHer explanations of arcane eighteenth-century French physics, mathematics, astronomy, and biology are among the most lucid available in any language." - Virginia P. Dawson, American Historical Review "As a guide to the public world of post-Newtonian European science, this well-written, scholarly work has much to offer." - Jeremy Black, Times Higher Education Supplement"

Mary Terrall is associate professor of history at the University of California, Los Angeles.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9780226793610
ISBN 10	0226793613
Title	The Man Who Flattened the Earth
Author	Mary Terrall
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Paperback
Publisher	The University of Chicago Press
Year published	2006-06-15
Number of pages	468
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.