Louis Poinsot’s Followers (1)

Louis Poinsot

Born

January 03, 1777

Died

December 05, 1859

Website

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Poinsot

Genre

Science, Physics, Mathematics

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Louis Poinsot (1777–1859) was a French mathematician and physicist. Poinsot was the inventor of geometrical mechanics, showing how a system of forces acting on a rigid body could be resolved into a single force and a couple.

Everyone makes for himself a clear idea of the motion of a point, that is to say, of the motion of a corpuscle which one supposes to be infinitely small, and which one reduces by thought in some way to a mathematical point.
—Louis Poinsot, Théorie nouvelle de la rotation des corps (1834)

Louis was born in Paris on 3 January 1777. He attended the school of Lycée Louis-le-Grand for secondary preparatory education for entrance to the famous École Polytechnique. In October 1794, at age 17, he took the École Polytechnique entra Louis Poinsot (1777–1859) was a French mathematician and physicist. Poinsot was the inventor of geometrical mechanics, showing how a system of forces acting on a rigid body could be resolved into a single force and a couple.

Everyone makes for himself a clear idea of the motion of a point, that is to say, of the motion of a corpuscle which one supposes to be infinitely small, and which one reduces by thought in some way to a mathematical point.
—Louis Poinsot, Théorie nouvelle de la rotation des corps (1834)

Louis was born in Paris on 3 January 1777. He attended the school of Lycée Louis-le-Grand for secondary preparatory education for entrance to the famous École Polytechnique. In October 1794, at age 17, he took the École Polytechnique entrance exam and failed the algebra section but was still accepted. A student there for two years, he left in 1797 to study at École des Ponts et Chaussées to become a civil engineer. Although now on course for the practical and secure professional study of civil engineering, he discovered his true passion, abstract mathematics.

Poinsot thus left the École des Ponts et Chaussées and civil engineering to become a mathematics teacher at the secondary school Lycée Bonaparte in Paris, from 1804 to 1809. From there he became inspector general of the Imperial University of France. He shared the post with another famous mathematician, Delambre. On 1 November 1809, Poinsot became assistant professor of analysis and mechanics at his old school the École Polytechnique. During this period of transitions between schools and work, Poinsot had remained active in research and published a number of works on geometry, mechanics and statics so that by 1809 he had an excellent reputation.

By 1812 Poinsot was no longer directly teaching at École Polytechnique using substitute teacher Reynaud, and later Cauchy, and lost his post in 1816 when they re-organized, but he did become admissions examiner and held that for another 10 years. He also worked at the famous Bureau des Longitudes from 1839 until his death. On the death of Joseph-Louis Lagrange in 1813, Poinsot was elected to fill his place at the Académie des Sciences. In 1840 he became a member of the superior council of public instruction. In 1846 he was awarded an Officer of the Legion of Honor, and on the formation of the Senate in 1852 he was chosen a member of that body. Poinsot was elected Fellow of the Royal Society of London in 1858. He died in Paris on 5 December 1859.

From the diary of Thomas Hirst, 20 December 1857:

...[Poinsot] shook me kindly by the hand, bid me be seated, and took his seat near me. He is now between 60 and 70 years old, with silver silken hair neatly arranged on a fine intelligent head. He is tall and thin, but although he now stoops with age and feebleness one can see that one time his figure was more than ordinarily graceful. He was loosely but neatly dressed in a large ample robe de chambre. His features are finely moulded — indeed everything about the man betokens good blood. He talks incessantly and well. I did not misunderstand a word, although he spoke always in a low tone, and now and then his voice dropped as if from weariness, but he never wandered from his point...

The crater Poinsot on the moon is named after Poinsot. A street in Paris is called Rue Poinsot (14th Arrondissement). Gustave Eiffel included Poinsot among the 72 names of prominent French scientists on plaques around the first stage of the Eiffel Tower. ...more

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Louis Poinsot’s books

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	Éléments De Statique: Suivis De Quatre Mémoires Sur La Composition Des Moments Et Des Aires; Sur Le Plan Invariable Du Système Du Monde; Sur La ... Nouvelle De La Rotati 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings — published 2010	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	La Theorie Generale de l'Equilibre Et Du Mouvement Des Systemes 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings — published 1975	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Éléments de Statique (11E Édition) (Sciences) (French Edition) 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings — published 2013 — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Éléments de Statique: Suivis de Quatre Mémoires Sur La Composition Des Moments Et Des Aires: , Sur Le Plan Invariable Du Système Du Monde, Sur La ... (10e Éd) (Sciences) (French Edition) 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings — published 2013	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Recherches Sur l'Analyse Des Sections Angulaires (Sciences) 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings — published 2013 — 11 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Précession Des Équinoxes (Sciences) 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Éléments de Statique, À l'Usage Des Lycées Nouv. Éd. (Sciences) 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Outlines of a New Theory of Rotatory Motion by Louis Poinsot, Charles Thomas Whitley 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Éléments de Statique: Suivis de Quatre Mémoires sur la Composition des Moments Et des Aires; Sur le Plan Invariable du Système du Monde; Sur la ... Systèmes (Classic Reprint) 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings — 11 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Éléments de Statique (Classic Reprint) 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings — 7 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

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Quotes by Louis Poinsot (?)

“For we may remark generally of our mathematical researches, that these auxiliary quantities, these long and difficult calculations into which we are often drawn, are almost always proofs that we have not in the beginning considered the objects themselves so thoroughly and directly as their nature requires, since all is abridged and simplified, as soon as we place ourselves in a right point of view.”
― Louis Poinsot

tags: abridged, auxiliary, calculations, difficult, math, mathematics, nature, research, science, simplified, thorough

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Louis Poinsot’s Followers (1)

Louis Poinsot

Combine EditionsLouis Poinsot’s books

Combine Editions
Louis Poinsot’s books