"Mujer y ciencia en el siglo XVIII: el prodigio de Madame Du Châtelet"

Abstract

Gabrielle Émilie Le Tonnelier de Breteuil, knownas Madame Du Châtelet, was born in 1706 intoan aristocratic family, and although, at the time,her social rank could have guaranteed her thelife of a socialite, she could combine this with anatural talent for the sciences, reinforced by thespecial education she was given which encouragedher vocation for Physics and Mathematics. Evenso, the legend about her passionate character,given to sentimental affairs, has perpetuatedher image as Voltaire’s lover. History has giventhe preponderant role to the philosopher,relegating Émilie to second place. In this paperwe discuss the question of her education againstthe background of her historical context, and werevisit her biography on the basis of her extensiveepistolary production.