Pierre Louis Maupertuis

Pierre Louis Maupertuis
Maupertuis, wearing "lapmudes" from his Lapland expedition. With one hand he is pressing on the globe, making it oblate. Line engraving by J. Daullé, 1741, after R. Levrac-Tournières, 1737.
Born	1698 Saint-Malo, France
Died	27 July 1759(1759-07-27) (aged 60) Basel, Switzerland
Known for	Principle of least action, precursor of transmutation
Scientific career
Fields	Mathematics, physics, biology, metaphysics, moral philosophy, astronomy, geography
Institutions	French Academy, Berlin Academy

Pierre Louis Moreau de Maupertuis (/ˌmoʊpərˈtwiː/; French: [mopɛʁtɥi]; 1698 – 27 July 1759)^[a] was a French mathematician, philosopher and man of letters. He became the director of the Académie des Sciences and the first president of the Prussian Academy of Science, at the invitation of Frederick the Great.

Maupertuis made an expedition to Lapland to determine the shape of the Earth. He is often credited with having discovered the principle of least action – a version of which is known as Maupertuis's principle – which he expressed as an integral equation that describes the path followed by a physical system. His work in natural history is interesting in relation to modern science since he touched on aspects of heredity and the struggle for life.
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