Nicolas Fatio de Duillier

Nicolas Fatio de Duillier ( born February 26, 1664 Basel, † May 12 1753 in Maddersfield at Worcester ) was a Swiss mathematician in the late 17th century and was and his work on the zodiacal light, his role in the priority dispute between Isaac Newton Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, and known by its later than Le Sage gravitation called gravitational theory.

From Paris to London

Fatio was born the seventh of 14 children, the son of Jean- Baptiste and Catherine Fatio. 1672 the family moved to the estate Duillier.

1682, at the age of 18 years Fatio traveled to Paris to drive under the then famous astronomer Giovanni Domenico Cassini at the Paris Observatory astronomical studies. Fatios greatest success was in his work ( 1684) on the nature of Cassini (1683 ) discovered the zodiacal light, which are still valid today basically. Fatio explained this phenomenon with particles that reflect the light of the sun.

1686 Fatio was accidentally witnesses a conspiracy directed against William of Orange, which he was able to thwart. In the same year he made ​​the acquaintance of Jakob Bernoulli and Christiaan Huygens, with the developed particularly close cooperation. Main ideas were the calculus and especially the determination of the tangents of curves thread.

In 1687, he traveled to London where he completed the acquaintance of John Wallis and Edward Bernard ( 1638-1697 ) and worked out a solution to the then so -called " inverse tangent problem " (a solution of certain differential equations). Friendly relationship he had with Gilbert Burnet (1643-1715), John Locke, Richard Hampden (1631-1695) and his son John Hampden ( 1653-1696 ). In 1688 he was finally taken at the suggestion of John Hoskyns ( 1634-1705 ) in the Royal Society.

In 1688 he gave a lecture before the Royal Society, the mechanical explanation of gravitation Huygens, which he wanted to connect with the Newton. Finally, he wrote in a letter he sent in 1690 to Huygens and its contents he presented to the Royal Society, its own theory of gravitation, which later became known as Le Sage gravitation. This theory, on which he worked until his death, is based on the assumption of very small particles whose collisions zutreiben the body to each other.

In 1700 he put together with Pierre de Baufre of experiments, storage area for bikes to use gems in mechanical watches. This technique still in use today, the two received a patent in 1705.

Newton, Leibniz, and the Camisard

Particularly close, however, was the relationship with Isaac Newton, whose theory of gravitation he was impressed from the start. In 1691, he even tried to create a new edition of Newton's Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica, this project but not finished. To 1694, the relationship between the two cooled off, however. During this time, several correspondence with Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz took place.

Fatio became famous later, however. Due to its important role in the dispute between Newton and Leibniz, who was the first inventor of calculus now In a letter (1699 ) he threw Leibniz indirectly before, he had taken possession of foreign intellectual property, triggering the hassle out.

To Fatio in 1707 fell under the influence of a fanatical religious sect, known as the Camisard. This initiated the ruin of Fatios reputation. He left England and took part in pilgrimages across part of Europe. After returning a few writings from him just yet published. He had exceeded his scientific zenith. Finally he died in 1753 near Worcester.

After his death his Geneva compatriot Georges- Louis Le Sage tried to acquire the scientific legacy Fatios. The estate is now together with Le Sage's papers in Univ. Library in Geneva.

Writings

• Fatio, N.: Lettre N ° 2570 In: . Société Hollandaise des Sciences ( ed.): Oeuvres completes de Christiaan Huygens. 9, The Hague 1690, pp. 381-389.
• Fatio, N.: De la cause de la Pesanteur. In: Bopp, Karl ( ed. ): Three Studies on the History of Mathematics, in: Strasbourg Scientific Society in Heidelberg. 10, Berlin & Leipzig 1701/1929, pp. 19-66.
• Fatio, N.: De la Cause de la Pesanteur: Mémoire de Nicolas Fatio de Duillier. In: Gagnebin, Bernard ( ed.): Notes and Records of the Royal Society of London. 6, 1743/1949, pp. 125-160.