“Ce que nous connaissons est peu de chose, ce que nous ignorons est immense.”
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Figure timeline
Pierre-Simon Laplace
Pierre-Simon, Marquis de Laplace was a French polymath, a scholar whose work has been instrumental in the fields of physics, astronomy, mathematics, engineering, statistics, and philosophy. He summarized and extended the work of his predecessors in his five-volume Mécanique céleste (1799–1825). This work translated the geometric study of classical mechanics to one based on calculus, opening up a b…
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science · French polymath (1749–1827) · mathematician · astronomer · physicist · politician · philosopher · university teacher · theoretical physicist · statistician · writer · also Pierre-Simon Laplace, Pierre Simon, Marquis de Laplace, Pierre Simon Marquis de Laplace, Pierre-Simon, Marquis de Laplace, Laplace
Born 23 March 1749 · Died 5 March 1827 · Q44481
78 published statements · 0 followers
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2026· 5 entries
“Nature laughs at the difficulties of integration.”
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“Lisez Euler, lisez Euler, c'est notre maître à tous.”
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“We are so far from knowing all the agents of nature and their diverse modes of action that it would not be philosophical to deny phenomena solely because they are inexplicable in the actual state of our knowledge. But we ought to examine them with an attention all the more scrupulous as it appears more difficult to admit them.”
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“On voit, par cet Essai, que la théorie des probabilités n'est, au fond, que le bon sens réduit au calcul; elle fait apprécier avec exactitude ce que les esprits justes sentent par une sorte d'instinct, sans qu'ils puissent souvent s'en rendre compte.”
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2025· 1 entry
Nature: Pierre Simon Laplace (1749–1827)
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1999· 1 entry
"I don't think that Laplace was claiming that God does not exist
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1925· 1 entry
With the family château in Saint Julien de Mailloc, near Lisieux, the home of his great-great-grandson the Comte de Colbert-Laplace
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1888· 1 entry
His remains were moved to Saint Julien de Mailloc in the canton of Orbec and reinterred on the family estate
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1884· 1 entry
However, the astronomer Hervé Faye affirmed that this account of Laplace's exchange with Napoleon presented a "strangely transformed" (étrangement transformée) or garbled version of what had actually happened
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1872· 1 entry
“Riportato in A Budget of Paradoxes, a cura di Augustus De Morgan e Sophia Elizabeth De Morgan, Londra, Longmans, Green, and Co., gennaio 1872; l'episodio è citato anche da Victor Hugo (che a sua volta cita François Arago), ed è stato oggetto di numerose ricostruzioni. Su Wikipedia (in inglese) si veda, ad esempio, "I had no need of that hypothesis.”
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1866· 1 entry
“His true last words, according to Augustus De Morgan's Budget of Paradoxes (1866).”
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1846· 1 entry
“Reported by Gugliemo Libri in the Journal des Savants, January 1846, p. 51: « ...ces paroles mémorables que nous avons entendues de sa propre bouche : "Lisez Euler, lisez Euler, c'est notre maître à tous".”
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1829· 2 entries
“Éloge historique de M. le Marquis de Laplace”
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“Allegedly his last words, reported in Joseph Fourier's "Éloge historique de M. le Marquis de Laplace" (1829) with the comment, "This was at least the meaning of his last words, which were articulated with difficulty." Quoted in Augustus De Morgan's Budget of Paradoxes (1866).”
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1827· 32 entries
Died 1827-03-05.
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“Comment, vous faites tout le système du monde, vous donnez les lois de toute la création et dans tout votre livre vous ne parlez pas une seule fois de l'existence de Dieu![Sire,] je n'avais pas besoin de cette hypothèse-là.Ah! C’est une belle hypothèse; ça explique beaucoup de choses.”
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Told Faye of an attempt by Laplace to keep the garbled version of his interaction with Napoleon out of circulation
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“Il est facile de voir que...”
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“They asked Laplace who, in his opinion, was the greatest mathematician of Germany. "It's Pfaff," he answered. - "I thought," the questioner replied, "that Gauss was superior to him." - "But," exclaimed Laplace, "you're asking me who is the greatest mathematician of Germany, and Gauss is the greatest mathematician of Europe.”
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“Las preguntas más importantes de la vida, de hecho, no son en su mayoría más que problemas de probabilidad.”
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“[Nepero] Abbreviando le fatiche, ha raddoppiato la vita dell'astronomo.”
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“Translation: "One sees, from this Essay, that the theory of probabilities is basically just common sense reduced to calculus; it makes one appreciate with exactness that which accurate minds feel with a sort of instinct, often without being able to account for it.”
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“Lo que sabemos es poco. Lo que no sabemos es inmenso».[Ce que nous connaissons est peu de chose; ce que nous ignorons est immense].”
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“Also reported as: "The theory of probabilities is at bottom nothing but common sense reduced to calculus; it enables us to appreciate with exactness that which accurate minds feel with a sort of instinct for which ofttimes they are unable to account.”
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“Todos los fenómenos de la naturaleza son solo los resultados matemáticos de un pequeño número de leyes inmutables.”
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“È naturale che l'uomo metta in relazione le unità di lunghezza in base alle quali si sposta con le dimensioni del globo che abita.”
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“Or as: "Probability theory is nothing but common sense reduced to calculation.”
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“Pierre-Simon Laplace, as quoted in Will Durant, Our Oriental Heritage: India and Her Neighbors.”
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“La Natura ride alle difficoltà di integrazione.”
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“(EN) Nature laughs at the difficulties of integration.”
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“La teoria delle probabilità è in fondo soltanto senso comune ridotto a calcolo.”
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“Translation: "Life's most important questions are, for the most part, nothing but problems of chance.”
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“Quello che sappiamo non è molto. Quello che non sappiamo è immenso.”
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“Si legga Eulero: è il nostro maestro in tutto.”
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“Translation: "The last thing we expect of you, General, is a lesson in geometry!”
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“Laplace to Napoléon, after the latter had reported on some new elementary geometry results.[citation needed]”
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“Tutti gli effetti della Natura sono soltanto conseguenze matematiche di un piccolo numero di leggi immutabili.”
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“Translation: "What we know is not much. What we do not know is immense.”
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“[Al commento di Napoleone sull'Esposizione del sistema del mondo del 1796: «Lei ha scritto questo librone sulla fondazione del mondo senza menzionare una sola volta l'autore dell'universo»] Non ho avuto bisogno di questa ipotesi. [Quando Napoleone gli raccontò l'accaduto, Lagrange commentò: «Ah, ma è un'ottima ipotesi. Spiega tante cose!»]”
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“L'homme ne poursuit que des chimères.”
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“Translation: "Man follows only phantoms.”
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“Compare Edmund Burke's famous remark, after a parliamentary candidate's sudden death, about "what shadows we are, and what shadows we pursue.”
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“Il principio di indeterminazione segnò la fine del tipo di scienza sognato da Laplace, ovvero di un modello dell'universo completamente deterministico. (Stephen Hawking)”
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“Translation: "Read Euler, read Euler, he is the master of us all." (Sometimes freely translated as: "Read Euler: he is our master in everything.")”
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“Laplace [...] [a differenza di Lagrange] non spiegava nulla; era assolutamente indifferente allo stile; e, soddisfatto che i suoi risultati fossero esatti, era contento di lasciarli agli altri senza dimostrazione, od anche con una alquanto difettosa. (Dionisio Gambioli)”
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“Matematico di prim'ordine, Laplace si rivelò rapidamente essere un mediocre amministratore; dal suo primo lavoro vedemmo che eravamo stati tratti in inganno. Laplace non vedeva nessuna questione dal suo vero punto di vista: cercava ovunque sottigliezze; aveva solo delle dubbie idee, e infine ha portato lo spirito dell'infinitamente piccolo nell'amministrazione. (Napoleone Bonaparte)”
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1825· 2 entries
Awarded Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour (1825).
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Is mainly historical, but it gives as appendices the results of Laplace's latest researches
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1822· 1 entry
Career landmark: president (1822–1823).
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1819· 1 entry
Published a popular account of his work on probability
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1816· 2 entries
Career landmark: seat 8 of the Académie française (1816–1827).
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Was the first to point out that the speed of sound in air depends on the heat capacity ratio
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1815· 1 entry
Augustin-Jean Fresnel presented a new wave theory for diffraction to a commission of the French Academy with the help of François Arago
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1814· 3 entries
Career landmark: Pair of France (1814–1827).
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It was evident that the empire was falling; Laplace hastened to tender his services to the Bourbons, and in 1817 during the Restoration he was rewarded with the title of marquis
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Laplace published what may have been the first scientific articulation of causal determinism:
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1813· 1 entry
Awarded Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Reunion (1813).
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1812· 4 entries
“La dernière chose que nous attendions de vous, Général, est une leçon de géométrie !”
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Career landmark: president of the French Academy of Sciences (1812–1812).
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Laplace issued his Théorie analytique des probabilités in which he laid down many fundamental results in statistics
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“Les questions les plus importantes de la vie ne sont en effet, pour la plupart, que des problèmes de probabilité." Théorie analytique des probabilités, 1812.”
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1811· 1 entry
Laplace took a different non-Bayesian tack
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1810· 1 entry
And 1811, Laplace first developed the characteristic function as a tool for large-sample theory and proved the first general central limit theorem
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1809· 1 entry
Gauss had derived the normal distribution from the principle that the arithmetic mean of observations gives the most probable value for the quantity measured; then, turning this argument back upon itself, he showed that,
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1806· 3 entries
Laplace was also elected a foreign member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
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Laplace bought a house in Arcueil, then a village and not yet absorbed into the Paris conurbation
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And was named a marquis in 1817, after the Bourbon Restoration
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1805· 1 entry
Legendre had published the method of least squares, making no attempt to tie it to the theory of probability
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1804· 1 entry
Awarded Grand Officer of the Legion of Honour (1804).
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1803· 1 entry
Awarded Knight of the Legion of Honour (1803).
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1802· 1 entry
And 1805, contain applications of these methods, and several astronomical tables
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1799· 2 entries
Career landmark: member of the Sénat conservateur (1799–1814).
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Career landmark: Minister of the Interior of France (1799–1799).
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1796· 1 entry
Career landmark: president of the French Academy of Sciences (1796–1796).
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1789· 1 entry
Awarded Fellow of the Royal Society (1789).
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1769· 1 entry
Studied at University of Caen Normandy (1766–1769).
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1749· 1 entry
Born 1749-03-23.
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