Pierre-Louis Maupertuis

Pierre Louis Moreau de Maupertuis (; ; 1698 – 27 July 1759)In the city archives of Saint-Malo his baptism date is given as 28 September 1698. The actual birth date is unknown. was a French mathematician, philosopher and man of letters. He became the Director of the Académie des Sciences, and the first President of the Prussian Academy of Science, at the invitation of Frederick the Great.

Maupertuis made an expedition to Lapland to determine the shape of the Earth. He is often credited with having invented the principle of least action; a version is known as Maupertuis's principle – an integral equation that determines the path followed by a physical system. His work in natural history is interesting in relation to modern science, since he touched on aspects of heredity and the struggle for life.

 References 

Category:1698 births
Category:1759 deaths
Category:French scientists
Category:French physicists
Category:French astronomers
Category:French biologists
Category:French philosophers
Category:Writers from Brittany
Category:Members of the Académie française
Category:Fellows of the Royal Society
Category:People from Ille-et-Vilaine