Frederick the Great discussion post 9

[cahn]

...I leave you guys alone for one weekend and it's time for a new Fritz post, lol!

I'm gonna reply to the previous post comments but I guess new letter-reading, etc. should go in this one :)

Frederick the Great links

Comments

Re: Émilie du Châtelet: Daring Genius of the Enlightenment (Judith P. Zinsser) - general thoughts

[cahn]

Agreed; I got the impression from my reading that she took Newton's Principia and converted the geometric proofs into calculus proofs, which is a super impressive achievement and definitely creative and original work, but it wasn't breaking new ground, like inventing physics or discovering new laws of physics.

Yep, same for me.

Also, if Bodanis is correct, if she'd hadn't had her hands tied by not being able to carry out her theoretical physics experiments because Voltaire's EGO, maybe she could have discovered more new things. He claims that she had the equipment and the know-how to do a number of optical experiments and astronomical observations that weren't done until decades after her death, by people who got famous.

I don't know about this. I mean, it's probably true she had the equipment and know-how, but that doesn't always translate to doing the right experiment for the right reasons. I mean, maybe? But we'll never know what she would have been like without Voltaire around. (Time-traveling Zinsser: I'm telling you, dump him!)