Alembert

(Jean le Rond d’), mathematician and philosopher, b. at Paris 16 Nov. 1717. He was an illegitimate son of Canon Des touches and Mme. Tencin, and received his Christian name from a church near which he was exposed as a foundling. He afterwards resided for forty years with his nurse, nor would he leave her for the most tempting offers. In 1741, he was admitted a member of the Academy of Sciences. In 1749, he obtained the prize medal from the Academy of Berlin, for a discourse on the theory of winds. In 1749, he solved the problem of the proce ion of the equinoxes and explained the mutation of the earth’s axis. He next engaged with Diderot, with whose opinions he was in complete accord, in compiling the famous Encyclopédie , for which he wrote the preliminary discourse. In addition to this great work he published many historical, philosophical and scientific e ays, and largely corresponded with Voltaire. His work on the Destruction of the Jesuits is a caustic and far-reaching production. In a letter to Frederick the Great, he says: “As for the existence of a supreme intelligence, I think that those who deny it advance more than they can prove, and scepticism is the only reasonable course.” He goes on to say, however, that experience invincibly proves the materiality of the “soul.” Died 29 Oct. 1783. In 1799 two volumes of his posthumous e ays were printed in Paris. His works prove d’Alembert to have been of broad spirit and of most extensive knowledge.