Jean le Rond d'Alembert

<h2 id="early-years">Early years</h2>
Born in Paris, d'Alembert was the <a href="/facts/Illegitimate_child/kjNdlPeC">natural son</a> of the writer <a href="/facts/Claudine_Gu%25C3%25A9rin_de_Tencin/zKhXegqY">Claudine Guérin de Tencin</a> and the chevalier <a href="/facts/Louis-Camus_Destouches/KybPQAWv">Louis-Camus Destouches</a>, an <a href="/facts/Artillery/GLpMYG9o">artillery</a> officer. Destouches was abroad at the time of d'Alembert's birth. Days after birth his mother left him on the steps of the Saint-Jean-le-Rond de Paris [fr] church. According to custom, he was named after the <a href="/facts/Patron_saint/Gw1cv1vH">patron saint</a> of the church. D'Alembert was placed in an <a href="/facts/Orphanage/tKhd7Bfg">orphanage</a> for <a href="/facts/Child_abandonment/yhXnaMHq">foundling</a> children, but his father found him and placed him with the wife of a <a href="/facts/Glazier/DPrvn0DV">glazier</a>, Madame Rousseau, with whom he lived for nearly 50 years.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:7" href="#fn:7">7</a> She gave him little encouragement. When he told her of some discovery he had made or something he had written she generally replied,

<blockquote>You will never be anything but a philosopher—and what is that but an ass who plagues himself all his life, that he may be talked about after he is dead.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:8" href="#fn:8">8</a></blockquote>
Destouches secretly paid for the education of Jean le Rond, but did not want his <a href="/facts/Paternity_(law)/jWvhjLJt">paternity</a> officially recognised.

<h2 id="studies-and-adult-life">Studies and adult life</h2>
D'Alembert first attended a private school. The chevalier Destouches left d'Alembert an <a href="/facts/Annuity_(financial_contracts)/b1bH9XEF">annuity</a> of 1,200 <a href="/facts/French_livre/l6f30gt0">livres</a> on his death in 1726. Under the influence of the Destouches family, at the age of 12 d'Alembert entered the <a href="/facts/Jansenism/RDNXhyUp">Jansenist</a> <a href="/facts/Coll%25C3%25A8ge_des_Quatre-Nations/IAF0QKQC">Collège des Quatre-Nations</a> (the institution was also known under the name "Collège Mazarin"). Here he studied philosophy, law, and the arts, graduating as <a href="/facts/Bachelor_of_Arts/2pa1nwfR">baccalauréat en arts</a> in 1735.
In his later life, d'Alembert scorned the <a href="/facts/Ren%25C3%25A9_Descartes/ohqj6DMf">Cartesian</a> principles he had been taught by the <a href="/facts/Jansenism/RDNXhyUp">Jansenists</a>: "physical promotion, innate ideas and the vortices". The Jansenists steered d'Alembert toward an ecclesiastical career, attempting to deter him from pursuits such as poetry and <a href="/facts/Mathematics/pxTouaz4">mathematics</a>. Theology was, however, "rather unsubstantial fodder" for d'Alembert. He entered law school for two years, and was nominated <a href="/facts/Lawyer/SETgVQHu">avocat</a> in 1738.
He was also interested in medicine and mathematics. Jean enrolled first as Jean-Baptiste Daremberg and subsequently changed his name, perhaps for reasons of euphony, to d’Alembert.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:9" href="#fn:9">9</a>
Later, in recognition of d'Alembert's achievements, <a href="/facts/Frederick_the_Great/Bv1At4Hy"> Frederick the Great of Prussia</a> proposed the name "d'Alembert" for a suspected (but non-existent) moon of Venus, however d'Alembert refused the honor.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:10" href="#fn:10">10</a>

<h2 id="career">Career</h2>

In July 1739 he made his first contribution to the field of mathematics, pointing out the errors he had detected in Analyse démontrée (published 1708 by <a href="/facts/Charles-Ren%25C3%25A9_Reynaud/GyUR2RUV">Charles-René Reynaud</a>) in a communication addressed to the <a href="/facts/French_Academy_of_Sciences/zF42DYQv">Académie des Sciences</a>. At the time L'analyse démontrée was a standard work, which d'Alembert himself had used to study the <a href="/facts/Foundations_of_mathematics/yjpbbUkt">foundations of mathematics</a>. D'Alembert was also a <a href="/facts/Latin/pM3Kge85">Latin</a> scholar of some note and worked in the latter part of his life on a translation of <a href="/facts/Tacitus/u6m0E441">Tacitus</a>, for which he received wide praise including that of <a href="/facts/Denis_Diderot/q6DGf6DC">Denis Diderot</a>.
In 1740, he submitted his second <a href="/facts/Science/IJoaD7rs">scientific</a> work from the field of <a href="/facts/Fluid_dynamics/y7uzSCfg">fluid mechanics</a> Mémoire sur la réfraction des corps solides, which was recognised by <a href="/facts/Alexis_Clairault/mfnHdyIJ">Clairaut</a>. In this work d'Alembert theoretically explained <a href="/facts/Refraction/S8kvSKzM">refraction</a>.
In 1741, after several failed attempts, d'Alembert was elected into the Académie des Sciences. He was later elected to the <a href="/facts/Prussian_Academy_of_Sciences/akJEC3Nc">Berlin Academy</a> in 1746<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:11" href="#fn:11">11</a> and a <a href="/facts/Fellow_of_the_Royal_Society/cWs8TdC5">Fellow of the Royal Society</a> in 1748.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:12" href="#fn:12">12</a>
In 1743, he published his most famous work, Traité de dynamique, in which he developed his own <a href="/facts/D%2527Alembert%2527s_principle/6pNmwa40">laws of motion</a>.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:13" href="#fn:13">13</a>
When the Encyclopédie was organised in the late 1740s, d'Alembert was engaged as co-editor (for mathematics and science) with Diderot, and served until a series of crises temporarily interrupted the publication in 1757. He authored over a thousand articles for it, including the famous <a href="/facts/Preliminary_Discourse/mRMtamHy">Preliminary Discourse</a>. D'Alembert "abandoned the foundation of <a href="/facts/Materialism/VKAovnPt">Materialism</a>"<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:14" href="#fn:14">14</a> when he "doubted whether there exists outside us anything corresponding to what we suppose we see."<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:15" href="#fn:15">15</a> In this way, d'Alembert agreed with the <a href="/facts/Idealism/w8JAlhjG">Idealist</a> <a href="/facts/George_Berkeley/KKnYyDC2">Berkeley</a> and anticipated the <a href="/facts/Transcendental_idealism/44UdFqvF">transcendental idealism</a> of <a href="/facts/Immanuel_Kant/vIxjdy6I">Kant</a>.
In 1752, he wrote about what is now called <a href="/facts/D%2527Alembert%2527s_paradox/zHRDuy9J">D'Alembert's paradox</a>: that the <a href="/facts/Drag_(physics)/vdl4jF7I">drag</a> on a body immersed in an <a href="/facts/Viscosity/QLVfrdCz">inviscid</a>, <a href="/facts/Incompressible_flow/1CwmhTPf">incompressible</a> <a href="/facts/Fluid/tMQ46Tmz">fluid</a> is zero.
In 1754, d'Alembert was elected a member of the <a href="/facts/Acad%25C3%25A9mie_des_sciences/zF42DYQv">Académie des sciences</a>, of which he became Permanent Secretary on 9 April 1772.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:16" href="#fn:16">16</a>
In 1757, an article by d'Alembert in the seventh volume of the Encyclopedia suggested that the Geneva clergymen had moved from <a href="/facts/Calvinism/l95AzJtn">Calvinism</a> to pure <a href="/facts/Socinianism/eJ1H3NNA">Socinianism</a>, basing this on information provided by <a href="/facts/Voltaire/h2pyULrC">Voltaire</a>. The Pastors of Geneva were indignant, and appointed a committee to answer these charges. Under pressure from <a href="/facts/Jacob_Vernes/4HCymMkU">Jacob Vernes</a>, <a href="/facts/Jean-Jacques_Rousseau/yfvWByCj">Jean-Jacques Rousseau</a> and others, d'Alembert eventually made the excuse that he considered anyone who did not accept the Church of Rome to be a Socinianist, and that was all he meant, and he abstained from further work on the encyclopaedia following his response to the critique.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:17" href="#fn:17">17</a>
He was elected a Foreign Honorary Member of the <a href="/facts/American_Academy_of_Arts_and_Sciences/KptWYgz4">American Academy of Arts and Sciences</a> in 1781.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:18" href="#fn:18">18</a>

<h2 id="music-theories">Music theories</h2>
D'Alembert's first exposure to music theory was in 1749 when he was called upon to review a Mémoire submitted to the Académie by <a href="/facts/Jean-Philippe_Rameau/4TsjG9TN">Jean-Philippe Rameau</a>. This article, written in conjunction with <a href="/facts/Diderot/q6DGf6DC">Diderot</a>, would later form the basis of Rameau's 1750 treatise Démonstration du principe de l'harmonie. D'Alembert wrote a glowing review praising the author's deductive character as an ideal scientific model. He saw in Rameau's music theories support for his own scientific ideas, a fully systematic method with a strongly deductive synthetic structure.
Two years later, in 1752, d'Alembert attempted a fully comprehensive survey of Rameau's works in his Eléments de musique théorique et pratique suivant les principes de M. Rameau.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:19" href="#fn:19">19</a> Emphasizing Rameau's main claim that music was a mathematical science that had a single principle from which could be deduced all the elements and rules of musical practice as well as the explicit Cartesian methodology employed, d'Alembert helped to popularise the work of the composer and advertise his own theories.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:20" href="#fn:20">20</a> He claims to have "clarified, developed, and simplified" the principles of Rameau, arguing that the single idea of the corps sonore [fr] was not sufficient to derive the entirety of music.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:21" href="#fn:21">21</a> D'Alembert instead claimed that three principles would be necessary to generate the major <a href="/facts/Musical_mode/uzguYm9j">musical mode</a>, the minor mode, and the identity of <a href="/facts/Octaves/RA4gWvkV">octaves</a>. Because he was not a musician, however, d'Alembert misconstrued the finer points of Rameau's thinking, changing and removing concepts that would not fit neatly into his understanding of music.
Although initially grateful, Rameau eventually turned on d'Alembert while voicing his increasing dissatisfaction with <a href="/facts/J._J._Rousseau/yfvWByCj">J. J. Rousseau</a>'s Encyclopédie articles on music.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:22" href="#fn:22">22</a> This led to a series of bitter exchanges between the men and contributed to the end of d'Alembert and Rameau's friendship. A long preliminary discourse d'Alembert wrote for the 1762 edition of his Elémens attempted to summarise the dispute and act as a final rebuttal.
D'Alembert also discussed various aspects of the state of music in his celebrated Discours préliminaire of <a href="/facts/Diderot/q6DGf6DC">Diderot</a>'s Encyclopédie. D'Alembert claims that, compared to the other arts, music, "which speaks simultaneously to the imagination and the senses," has not been able to represent or imitate as much of reality because of the "lack of sufficient inventiveness and resourcefulness of those who cultivate it."<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:23" href="#fn:23">23</a> He wanted musical expression to deal with all physical sensations rather than merely the passions alone. D'Alembert believed that modern (<a href="/facts/Baroque/9hAsnf9X">Baroque</a>) music had only achieved perfection in his age, as there existed no classical <a href="/facts/Greeks/wXwd2xlb">Greek</a> models to study and imitate. He claimed that "time destroyed all models which the ancients may have left us in this genre."<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:24" href="#fn:24">24</a> He praises Rameau as "that manly, courageous, and fruitful genius" who picked up the slack left by <a href="/facts/Jean-Baptiste_Lully/4tqvCdM7">Jean-Baptiste Lully</a> in the French musical arts.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:25" href="#fn:25">25</a>

<h2 id="personal-life">Personal life</h2>
D'Alembert was a participant in several Parisian <a href="/facts/Salon_(gathering)/msrWHtYj">salons</a>, particularly those of <a href="/facts/Marie_Th%25C3%25A9r%25C3%25A8se_Rodet_Geoffrin/LKABM36P">Marie Thérèse Rodet Geoffrin</a>, of the <a href="/facts/Madame_du_Deffand/P9dvxVay">marquise du Deffand</a> and of <a href="/facts/Julie_de_Lespinasse/Tv9wvqIu">Julie de Lespinasse</a>. D'Alembert became infatuated with Julie de Lespinasse, and eventually took up residence with her.

<h2 id="death">Death</h2>
He suffered bad health for many years and his death was as the result of a <a href="/facts/Urinary_bladder/g8Khaf7A">urinary bladder</a> illness. As a known <a href="/facts/Infidel/lwMLcCn2">unbeliever</a>,<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:26" href="#fn:26">26</a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:27" href="#fn:27">27</a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:28" href="#fn:28">28</a> D'Alembert was buried in a common <a href="/facts/Unmarked_grave/TU1rUm8C">unmarked grave</a>.

<h2 id="legacy">Legacy</h2>
In France, the <a href="/facts/Fundamental_theorem_of_algebra/vspflSsM">fundamental theorem of algebra</a> is known as the d'Alembert/<a href="/facts/Carl_Friedrich_Gauss/f4eSMBD7">Gauss</a> theorem, as an error in d'Alembert's proof was caught by Gauss.
He also created his <a href="/facts/Ratio_test/SpvhbMQF">ratio test</a>, a test to determine if a <a href="/facts/Series_(mathematics)/yDnlsgIe">series</a> converges.
The <a href="/facts/D%2527Alembert_operator/hCzCvJyD">D'Alembert operator</a>, which first arose in D'Alembert's analysis of vibrating strings, plays an important role in modern theoretical physics.
While he made great strides in mathematics and physics, d'Alembert is also famously known for incorrectly arguing in Croix ou Pile that the <a href="/facts/Probability/fgYvMhwb">probability</a> of a coin landing heads increased for every time that it came up tails. In gambling, the strategy of decreasing one's bet the more one wins and increasing one's bet the more one loses is therefore called the <a href="/facts/D%2527Alembert_system/UXV5j7dD">D'Alembert system</a>, a type of <a href="/facts/Martingale_(betting_system)/NfHj6n0c">martingale</a>.
In <a href="/facts/South_Australia/R7UdxV97">South Australia</a>, a small inshore island in south-western <a href="/facts/Spencer_Gulf/UzqKgmy7">Spencer Gulf</a> was named Ile d'Alembert by the French explorer, <a href="/facts/Nicolas_Baudin/noLu6V0h">Nicolas Baudin</a> during his <a href="/facts/Nicolas_Baudin%2527s_expedition_to_Australia/uSek0nMM">expedition to New Holland</a>. The island is better known by the alternative English name of <a href="/facts/Lipson_Island/yz9krpjb">Lipson Island</a>. The island is a conservation park and seabird rookery.

<h2 id="fictional-portrayal">Fictional portrayal</h2>
<a href="/facts/Diderot/q6DGf6DC">Diderot</a> portrayed d'Alembert in Le rêve de D'Alembert (<a href="/facts/D%2527Alembert%2527s_Dream/MLtVd0qW">D'Alembert's Dream</a>), written after the two men had become estranged. It depicts d'Alembert ill in bed, conducting a debate on materialist philosophy in his sleep.
<a href="/facts/D%2527Alembert%2527s_Principle_(novel)/QWuUdfP7">D'Alembert's Principle</a>, a 1996 novel by <a href="/facts/Andrew_Crumey/I6IAPMm3">Andrew Crumey</a>, takes its title from <a href="/facts/D%2527Alembert%2527s_principle/6pNmwa40">D'Alembert's principle</a> in physics. Its first part describes d'Alembert's life and his infatuation with <a href="/facts/Julie_de_Lespinasse/Tv9wvqIu">Julie de Lespinasse</a>.

<h2 id="list-of-works">List of works</h2>
<ul><li>D'Alembert, Jean Le Rond (1743). <a href="http://gallica.bnf.fr//ark:/12148/bpt6k29043t">Traité de dynamique</a> (2nd ed.). Gabay (1990 reprint).</li>
<li>D'Alembert, Jean Le Rond (1747a). "Recherches sur la courbe que forme une corde tenduë mise en vibration (Researches on the curve that a tense cord forms [when] set into vibration)". <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=lJQDAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA214">Histoire de l'académie royale des sciences et belles lettres de Berlin</a>. Vol. 3. pp. 214–219.</li>
<li>D'Alembert, Jean Le Rond (1747b). "Suite des recherches sur la courbe que forme une corde tenduë mise en vibration (Further researches on the curve that a tense cord forms [when] set into vibration)". <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=lJQDAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA220">Histoire de l'académie royale des sciences et belles lettres de Berlin</a>. Vol. 3. pp. 220–249.</li>
<li>D'Alembert, Jean Le Rond (1750). <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=m5UDAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA355">"Addition au mémoire sur la courbe que forme une corde tenduë mise en vibration"</a>. Histoire de l'académie royale des sciences et belles lettres de Berlin. Vol. 6. pp. 355–60.</li>
<li><a href="https://gutenberg.beic.it/webclient/DeliveryManager?pid=12210742">Recherches sur differens points importans du systeme du monde</a> (in French). Vol. 1. Paris: Michel Antoine David. 1754.
<ul><li><a href="https://gutenberg.beic.it/webclient/DeliveryManager?pid=12211771">Recherches sur differens points importans du systeme du monde</a> (in French). Vol. 2. Paris: Michel Antoine David. 1754.</li>
<li><a href="https://gutenberg.beic.it/webclient/DeliveryManager?pid=12212716">Recherches sur differens points importans du systeme du monde</a> (in French). Vol. 3. Paris: Michel Antoine David. 1756.</li></ul></li>
<li>D'Alembert, Jean Le Rond (1995). <a href="/facts/Preliminary_Discourse_to_the_Encyclopedia_of_Diderot/mRMtamHy">Preliminary Discourse to the Encyclopedia of Diderot</a>. Translated by Schwab, Richard N.; Rex, Walter E. University of Chicago Press.</li></ul>
<ul><li><a href="https://gutenberg.beic.it/webclient/DeliveryManager?pid=15685">Traité de dynamique</a> (in French). Paris: Jean-Baptiste Coignard (3.). 1743.</li>
<li>Mémoire sur le calcul intégral (1739), prima opera pubblicata</li>
<li><a href="https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k38052/f3.item">Traité de l'équilibre et du mouvement des fluides</a> (1744)</li>
<li><a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=c3AOAAAAQAAJ">Réflexions sur la cause générale des vents</a> (1746)</li>
<li>Recherches sur les cordes vibrantes (1747)</li>
<li><a href="https://gutenberg.beic.it/webclient/DeliveryManager?pid=161494">Recherches sur la précession des equinoxes, et sur la mutation de l'axe de la terre, dans le systême newtonien</a>. A Paris: Jean Baptiste Coignard. 1749.</li>
<li><a href="https://gutenberg.beic.it/webclient/DeliveryManager?pid=1265357">Éléments de musique, théorique et pratique</a>. Lyon: Jombert, Charles Antoine; Bruyset, Jean-Marie (1.). 1759.</li>
<li><a href="http://gallica.bnf.fr/notice?N=FRBNF30009144">	Essai d'une nouvelle théorie de la résistance des fluides</a>[permanent dead link] (1752)</li>
<li>Essai sur les éléments de philosophie (1759)</li>
<li><a href="https://gutenberg.beic.it/webclient/DeliveryManager?pid=14723">Nouvelles expériences sur la résistance des fluides</a> (in French). Paris: Jean François Louis Chardon. 1777.</li>
<li>Éloges lus dans les séances publiques de l'Académie française (1779)</li>
<li><a href="http://gallica.bnf.fr/notice?N=FRBNF30009155">Opuscules mathématiques</a>[permanent dead link] (8 tomi 1761-1780)</li>
<li>Œuvres complètes, Éditions CNRS, 2002. <a href="/facts/ISBN_(identifier)/15AdSPa9">ISBN</a> 2-271-06013-3</li>
<li><a href="/facts/Encyclop%25C3%25A9die/46IuCQNw">Encyclopédie ou dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers</a>, Flammarion, 1993. <a href="/facts/ISBN_(identifier)/15AdSPa9">ISBN</a> 2-08-070426-5</li>
<li><a href="https://gutenberg.beic.it/webclient/DeliveryManager?pid=14723">Nouvelles expériences sur la résistance des fluides, par mm. D'Alembert ... & l'Abbé Bossut ...</a> A Paris: rue Dauphine, chez Claude-Antoine Jombert, fils ainé, libraire du Roi pour le Génie & l'Artillerie. 1777.</li>
<li><a href="https://gutenberg.beic.it/webclient/DeliveryManager?pid=7847641&custom_att_2=simple_viewer&search_terms=DTL5&pds_handle=">Mélanges de littérature, de philosophie et d'histoire</a>. London: printed for C. Henderson : and sold by T. Becket and P. A. De Hondt, in the Strand. 1764.</li>
<li><a href="https://gutenberg.beic.it/webclient/DeliveryManager?pid=12418840">[Opere]</a> (in French). Vol. 1. Paris: A. Belin. 1821.
<ul><li><a href="https://gutenberg.beic.it/webclient/DeliveryManager?pid=12420721">[Opere]</a> (in French). Vol. 2. Paris: A. Belin. 1821.</li>
<li><a href="https://gutenberg.beic.it/webclient/DeliveryManager?pid=12422650">[Opere]</a> (in French). Vol. 3. Paris: A. Belin. 1821.</li>
<li><a href="https://gutenberg.beic.it/webclient/DeliveryManager?pid=12424945">[Opere]</a> (in French). Vol. 4. Paris: A. Belin. 1822.</li>
<li><a href="https://gutenberg.beic.it/webclient/DeliveryManager?pid=12426640">[Opere]</a> (in French). Vol. 5. Paris: A. Belin. 1822.</li>
<li><a href="https://gutenberg.beic.it/webclient/DeliveryManager?pid=11824502">Oeuvres et correspondances inedites</a> (in French). Paris: Librairie Académique Didier. 1887.</li></ul></li></ul>
<h2 id="see-also">See also</h2>
<ul><li><a href="/facts/List_of_liberal_theorists/7vbXhx69">List of liberal theorists</a></li>
<li><a href="/facts/List_of_things_named_after_Jean_d%2527Alembert/kdlTA32J">List of things named after Jean d'Alembert</a></li></ul>
<h2 id="notes">Notes</h2>

<h2 id="sources">Sources</h2>
<ul><li>Bernard, Jonathan W. (1980). "The Principle and the Elements: Rameau's Controversy with D'Alembert". Journal of Music Theory. 24 (1): 37–62. <a href="/facts/Doi_(identifier)/muM9Etpq">doi</a>:<a href="https://doi.org/10.2307%2F843738">10.2307/843738</a>. <a href="/facts/JSTOR_(identifier)/YTeVmaJ7">JSTOR</a> <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/843738">843738</a>.</li>
<li>Briggs, J. Morton (1970). "Jean le Rond d'Alembert". <a href="/facts/Dictionary_of_Scientific_Biography/qMA96GhQ">Dictionary of Scientific Biography</a>. Vol. 1. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. pp. 110–117. <a href="/facts/ISBN_(identifier)/15AdSPa9">ISBN</a> 0-684-10114-9.</li>
<li>Christensen, Thomas (1989). "Music Theory as Scientific Propaganda: The Case of D'Alembert's Élémens [<a href="/facts/Sic/qB9MUUWF">sic</a>] De Musique". Journal of the History of Ideas. 50 (3): 409–27. <a href="/facts/Doi_(identifier)/muM9Etpq">doi</a>:<a href="https://doi.org/10.2307%2F2709569">10.2307/2709569</a>. <a href="/facts/JSTOR_(identifier)/YTeVmaJ7">JSTOR</a> <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/2709569">2709569</a>.</li>
<li>Crépel, Pierre (2005). "Traité de dynamique". In <a href="/facts/Ivor_Grattan-Guinness/j8LPQtrS">Grattan-Guinness, I.</a> (ed.). <a href="https://archive.org/details/landmarkwritings00grat_141">Landmark Writings in Western Mathematics</a>. Elsevier. pp. <a href="https://archive.org/details/landmarkwritings00grat_141/page/n178">159</a>–67. <a href="/facts/ISBN_(identifier)/15AdSPa9">ISBN</a> 9780444508713.</li>
<li>Elsberry, Kristie Beverly (1984). Elémens de musique théorique et pratique suivant les principles de M. Rameau: an Annotated New Translation and a Comparison to Rameau's Theoretical Writings (PhD Dissertation). Florida State University.</li>
<li>Force, James E.; Popkin, Richard Henry (1990). Essays on the Context, Nature, and Influence of Isaac Newton's Theology. Springer. <a href="/facts/ISBN_(identifier)/15AdSPa9">ISBN</a> 9780792305835.</li>
<li>Grimsley, Ronald (1963). Jean d'Alembert. <a href="/facts/Oxford_University_Press/CYyTzzWG">Oxford University Press</a>.</li>
<li>Hall, Evelyn Beatrice (1906). <a href="https://archive.org/details/friendsofvoltair00hallrich">The Friends of Voltaire</a>. Smith, Elder & Co.</li>
<li>Hankins, Thomas L. (1990). <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=gwjc3vGW9-MC&q=Jean+D%27Alembert:+Science+and+the+Enlightenment&pg=PP13">Jean d'Alembert: Science and the Enlightenment</a>. New York: Gordon and Breach. <a href="/facts/ISBN_(identifier)/15AdSPa9">ISBN</a> 978-2-88124-399-8.</li>
<li>Horowitz, Irving Louis (1999). Behemoth: Main Currents in the History and Theory of Political Sociology. Transaction Publishers. <a href="/facts/ISBN_(identifier)/15AdSPa9">ISBN</a> 9781412817929.</li>
<li>Israel, Jonathan (2011). Democratic Enlightenment: Philosophy, Revolution, and Human Rights 1750–1790. <a href="/facts/Oxford_University_Press/CYyTzzWG">Oxford University Press</a>. <a href="/facts/ISBN_(identifier)/15AdSPa9">ISBN</a> 978-0-19-954820-0.</li>
<li><a href="/facts/Nathaniel_Smith_Richardson/tEehKJJy">Smith Richardson, Nathaniel</a> (1858). <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=mUAUAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA8">"Voltaire and Geneva"</a>. The Church Review. 10. G.B. Bassett: 1–14.</li></ul>
<h2 id="external-links">External links</h2>

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Jean le Rond d'Alembert

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<ul><li><a href="https://archive.org/search.php?query=%28%28subject%3A%22d'Alembert%2C%20Jean%20le%20Rond%22%20OR%20subject%3A%22Jean%20le%20Rond%20d'Alembert%22%20OR%20creator%3A%22d'Alembert%2C%20Jean%20le%20Rond%22%20OR%20creator%3A%22Jean%20le%20Rond%20d'Alembert%22%20OR%20title%3A%22Jean%20le%20Rond%20d'Alembert%22%20OR%20description%3A%22Jean%20le%20Rond%20d'Alembert%22%20OR%20%22d'Alembert%2C%20Jean%20le%20Rond%22%20OR%20%22Jean%20le%20Rond%20d'Alembert%22%20OR%20%22d'Alembert%2C%20J%2E%20l%2E%20R%2E%22%29%20OR%20%28%221717-1783%22%20AND%20%28%22d'Alembert%22%20OR%20d'Alembert%29%29%29%20AND%20%28-mediatype:software%29">Works by or about Jean le Rond d'Alembert</a> at the <a href="/facts/Internet_Archive/PHStU8Lo">Internet Archive</a></li>
<li><a href="https://librivox.org/author/1124">Works by Jean le Rond d'Alembert</a> at <a href="/facts/LibriVox/FF71kJKC">LibriVox</a> (public domain audiobooks) </li>
<li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20070715044150/http://mathdl.maa.org/convergence/1/?pa=content&sa=viewDocument&nodeId=962&bodyId=1223">D'Alembert's accusation of Euler's plagiarism</a> at <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20070713083148/http://mathdl.maa.org/convergence/1/">Convergence</a></li>
<li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20080705114731/http://www.hti.umich.edu/d/did">English translation of part of the Encyclopédie of Diderot and d'Alembert</a></li>
<li><a href="https://archive.org/details/anaccountdestru00alemgoog">An Account of the Destruction of the Jesuits in France</a> by Jean Le Rond d'Alembert (1766)</li>
<li><a href="https://archive.org/details/selecteulogiesm01aikigoog">Select Eulogies of the Members of the French Academy, With Notes</a> by Jean Le Rond d'Alembert (1799)</li>
<li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20081223001059/http://friedrich.uni-trier.de/oeuvres/24/401/">Correspondence with Frederick the Great</a></li>
<li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130513161603/http://portail.mathdoc.fr/cgi-bin/oetoc?id=OE_DALEMBERT__1">Jean D'Alembert – Œuvres complètes</a> Gallica-Math</li>
<li><a href="http://encyclopedie.uchicago.edu/">The ARTFL Encyclopédie</a>, a project at the <a href="/facts/University_of_Chicago/z6zRMUmV">University of Chicago</a> (articles in French, scans of 18th century print copies provided)</li>
<li>O'Connor, John J.; <a href="/facts/Edmund_F._Robertson/jQMcnY79">Robertson, Edmund F.</a>, <a href="https://mathshistory.st-andrews.ac.uk/Biographies/D'Alembert.html">"Jean le Rond d'Alembert"</a>, <a href="/facts/MacTutor_History_of_Mathematics_Archive/xtwLmN5q">MacTutor History of Mathematics Archive</a>, <a href="/facts/University_of_St_Andrews/IwXjmljw">University of St Andrews</a></li>
<li><a href="http://quod.lib.umich.edu/d/did/">The Encyclopedia of Diderot & d'Alembert Collaborative Translation Project</a>, product of the Scholarly Publishing Office of the <a href="/facts/University_of_Michigan_Library/1R4RJR1B">University of Michigan Library</a> (an effort to translate the Encyclopédie into English)</li>
<li><a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/history/inourtime/inourtime_20061026.shtml">The Encyclopédie</a>, BBC Radio 4 discussion with Judith Hawley, Caroline Warman and David Wootton (In Our Time, Oct. 26, 2006)</li></ul>

<h2 id="references">References</h2>

<ol>
<li id="fn:1">Also capitalized as D'Alembert in English. <a href="#fnref:1" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:2">"Alembert, d'". Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary. <a href="http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/d'alembert" target="_blank">http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/d'alembert</a> <a href="#fnref:2" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:3">"Jean Le Rond d'Alembert | French mathematician and philosopher". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 26 June 2021. <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Jean-Le-Rond-dAlembert" target="_blank">https://www.britannica.com/biography/Jean-Le-Rond-dAlembert</a> <a href="#fnref:3" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:4">D'Alembert 1747a. - D'Alembert, Jean Le Rond (1747a). "Recherches sur la courbe que forme une corde tenduë mise en vibration (Researches on the curve that a tense cord forms [when] set into vibration)". Histoire de l'académie royale des sciences et belles lettres de Berlin. Vol. 3. pp. 214–219. <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=lJQDAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA214" target="_blank">https://books.google.com/books?id=lJQDAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA214</a> <a href="#fnref:4" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:5">D'Alembert 1747b. - D'Alembert, Jean Le Rond (1747b). "Suite des recherches sur la courbe que forme une corde tenduë mise en vibration (Further researches on the curve that a tense cord forms [when] set into vibration)". Histoire de l'académie royale des sciences et belles lettres de Berlin. Vol. 3. pp. 220–249. <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=lJQDAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA220" target="_blank">https://books.google.com/books?id=lJQDAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA220</a> <a href="#fnref:5" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:6">D'Alembert 1750. - D'Alembert, Jean Le Rond (1750). "Addition au mémoire sur la courbe que forme une corde tenduë mise en vibration". Histoire de l'académie royale des sciences et belles lettres de Berlin. Vol. 6. pp. 355–60. <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=m5UDAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA355" target="_blank">https://books.google.com/books?id=m5UDAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA355</a> <a href="#fnref:6" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:7">Hall 1906, p. 5. - Hall, Evelyn Beatrice (1906). The Friends of Voltaire. Smith, Elder & Co. <a href="https://archive.org/details/friendsofvoltair00hallrich" target="_blank">https://archive.org/details/friendsofvoltair00hallrich</a> <a href="#fnref:7" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:8">The National Cyclopaedia of Useful Knowledge, Vol I, London, Charles Knight, 1847, p.417. <a href="#fnref:8" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:9">"Jean Le Rond d'Alembert | French mathematician and philosopher". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 10 April 2023. <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Jean-Le-Rond-dAlembert" target="_blank">https://www.britannica.com/biography/Jean-Le-Rond-dAlembert</a> <a href="#fnref:9" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:10">Ley, Willy. 1952. Article "Moon of Venus" in Galaxy Science Fiction July 1952. MDP Publishing Galaxy Science Fiction Digital Series, 2016. Retrieved from Google Books. <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=ykikDQAAQBAJ" target="_blank">https://books.google.com/books?id=ykikDQAAQBAJ</a> <a href="#fnref:10" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:11">Hankins 1990, p. 26. - Hankins, Thomas L. (1990). Jean d'Alembert: Science and the Enlightenment. New York: Gordon and Breach. ISBN 978-2-88124-399-8. <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=gwjc3vGW9-MC&q=Jean+D%27Alembert:+Science+and+the+Enlightenment&pg=PP13" target="_blank">https://books.google.com/books?id=gwjc3vGW9-MC&q=Jean+D%27Alembert:+Science+and+the+Enlightenment&pg=PP13</a> <a href="#fnref:11" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:12">"Library and Archive Catalogue". Royal Society. Archived from the original on 10 April 2020. Retrieved 3 December 2010. <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20200410114715/http://www2.royalsociety.org/DServe/dserve.exe?dsqIni=Dserve.ini&dsqApp=Archive&dsqCmd=Show.tcl&dsqDb=Persons&dsqPos=0&dsqSearch=%28Surname%3D%27alembert%27%29" target="_blank">https://web.archive.org/web/20200410114715/http://www2.royalsociety.org/DServe/dserve.exe?dsqIni=Dserve.ini&dsqApp=Archive&dsqCmd=Show.tcl&dsqDb=Persons&dsqPos=0&dsqSearch=%28Surname%3D%27alembert%27%29</a> <a href="#fnref:12" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:13">D'Alembert 1743. - D'Alembert, Jean Le Rond (1743). Traité de dynamique (2nd ed.). Gabay (1990 reprint). <a href="http://gallica.bnf.fr//ark:/12148/bpt6k29043t" target="_blank">http://gallica.bnf.fr//ark:/12148/bpt6k29043t</a> <a href="#fnref:13" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:14">Friedrich Albert Lange, History of Materialism and Critique of its Present Importance, "Kant and Materialism" <a href="/wiki/Friedrich_Albert_Lange" target="_blank">/wiki/Friedrich_Albert_Lange</a> <a href="#fnref:14" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:15">Friedrich Albert Lange, History of Materialism and Critique of its Present Importance, "Kant and Materialism" <a href="/wiki/Friedrich_Albert_Lange" target="_blank">/wiki/Friedrich_Albert_Lange</a> <a href="#fnref:15" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:16">Jean LE ROND, dit d’ ALEMBERT (1717-1783) Secrétaire perpétuel www.academie-francaise.fr/immortels Archived 31 May 2012 at the Wayback Machine <a href="http://www.academie-francaise.fr/immortels/base/academiciens/fiche.asp?param=219" target="_blank">http://www.academie-francaise.fr/immortels/base/academiciens/fiche.asp?param=219</a> <a href="#fnref:16" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:17">Smith Richardson 1858, pp. 8–9. - Smith Richardson, Nathaniel (1858). "Voltaire and Geneva". The Church Review. 10. G.B. Bassett: 1–14. <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=mUAUAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA8" target="_blank">https://books.google.com/books?id=mUAUAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA8</a> <a href="#fnref:17" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:18">"Book of Members, 1780–2010: Chapter A" (PDF). American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Retrieved 14 April 2011. <a href="http://www.amacad.org/publications/BookofMembers/ChapterA.pdf" target="_blank">http://www.amacad.org/publications/BookofMembers/ChapterA.pdf</a> <a href="#fnref:18" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:19">Christensen 1989, p. 415. - Christensen, Thomas (1989). "Music Theory as Scientific Propaganda: The Case of D'Alembert's Élémens [sic] De Musique". Journal of the History of Ideas. 50 (3): 409–27. doi:10.2307/2709569. JSTOR 2709569. <a href="https://doi.org/10.2307%2F2709569" target="_blank">https://doi.org/10.2307%2F2709569</a> <a href="#fnref:19" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:20">Christensen 1989, p. 415. - Christensen, Thomas (1989). "Music Theory as Scientific Propaganda: The Case of D'Alembert's Élémens [sic] De Musique". Journal of the History of Ideas. 50 (3): 409–27. doi:10.2307/2709569. JSTOR 2709569. <a href="https://doi.org/10.2307%2F2709569" target="_blank">https://doi.org/10.2307%2F2709569</a> <a href="#fnref:20" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:21">Bernard 1980. - Bernard, Jonathan W. (1980). "The Principle and the Elements: Rameau's Controversy with D'Alembert". Journal of Music Theory. 24 (1): 37–62. doi:10.2307/843738. JSTOR 843738. <a href="https://doi.org/10.2307%2F843738" target="_blank">https://doi.org/10.2307%2F843738</a> <a href="#fnref:21" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:22">The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 2nd ed., s.v. "Alembert, Jean le Rond d'" <a href="#fnref:22" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:23">D'Alembert 1995, p. 38. - D'Alembert, Jean Le Rond (1995). Preliminary Discourse to the Encyclopedia of Diderot. Translated by Schwab, Richard N.; Rex, Walter E. University of Chicago Press. <a href="#fnref:23" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:24">D'Alembert 1995, p. 69. - D'Alembert, Jean Le Rond (1995). Preliminary Discourse to the Encyclopedia of Diderot. Translated by Schwab, Richard N.; Rex, Walter E. University of Chicago Press. <a href="#fnref:24" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:25">D'Alembert 1995, p. 100. - D'Alembert, Jean Le Rond (1995). Preliminary Discourse to the Encyclopedia of Diderot. Translated by Schwab, Richard N.; Rex, Walter E. University of Chicago Press. <a href="#fnref:25" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:26">Israel 2011, p. 115: "D'Alembert, though privately an atheist and materialist, presented the respectable public face of 'la philosophie' in the French capital while remaining henceforth uninterruptedly aligned with Voltaire." - Israel, Jonathan (2011). Democratic Enlightenment: Philosophy, Revolution, and Human Rights 1750–1790. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-954820-0. <a href="#fnref:26" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:27">Force & Popkin 1990, p. 167: "Unlike the French and English deists, and unlike the scientific atheists such as Diderot, d'Alembert, and d'Holbach, such English scientists as David Hartley and Joseph Priestley presented their scientific theories as evidence for their scriptural views." - Force, James E.; Popkin, Richard Henry (1990). Essays on the Context, Nature, and Influence of Isaac Newton's Theology. Springer. ISBN 9780792305835. <a href="#fnref:27" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:28">Horowitz 1999, pp. 52–53: "In positive theory there was a wide divergence between Voltaire's panpsychic deism and Diderot's physiological materialism, or d'Alembert's agnostic positivism and Helvetius' sociological materialism." - Horowitz, Irving Louis (1999). Behemoth: Main Currents in the History and Theory of Political Sociology. Transaction Publishers. ISBN 9781412817929. <a href="#fnref:28" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
</ol>

Jean le Rond d'Alembert open-in-new

Jean le Rond d'Alembert