Mathematics: Biographies

A Dictionary of Astronomy The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Further reading

Clairaut, AlexisClaude

A Dictionary of Astronomy | 1997 | Copyright

Clairaut, AlexisClaude (1713–65)Frenchmathematician and physicist. In 1736 he took part in an expedition to Lapland to measure the length of a degree of latitude; the result proved that the Earth is an oblate spheroid. The next year he provided a rigorous theoretical explanation for the aberration of starlight, which J.Bradley had been unable to do. He used his own solution of the three-body problem to derive an accurate prediction for the date of perihelion passage of Halley's Comet on its return in 1758/9.

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Alexis Claude Clairaut

The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed. | 2011 | Copyright

Alexis Claude Clairaut , 1713–65, French mathematician. He assisted P. L. M. de Maupertuis in measuring (1736) a degree of an arc of a meridian in Lapland. He is noted for his work on differential equations and on curves and for formulating Clairaut's theorem dealing with geodesic lines on the surface of an ellipsoid.

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"Alexis Claude Clairaut." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. 2011. Encyclopedia.com. 25 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

"Alexis Claude Clairaut." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. 2011. Encyclopedia.com. (May 25, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-Clairaut.html

"Alexis Claude Clairaut." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. 2011. Retrieved May 25, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-Clairaut.html

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