Have you ever heard of Émilie du Châtelet? She is pictured above. I had never heard of her until I read a book review in the November 4, 2024 edition of The New Yorker. Clicking here may land you there, but I make no promises about The New Yorker's possible paywall protection plan! I hope, if you are a non-subscriber, you can slip by any paywall that may exist to read about Émilie du Châtelet.
Adam Gopnik wrote the book review I am talking about. It is titled, in the hard copy version, "A Piece Of Her Mind." Online, Gopnik's review is given this headline: "Does the Enlightenment’s Great Female Intellect Need Rescuing?" As it turns out, du Châtelet is perhaps known best for having been Voltaire's lover (while du Châtelet was married to someone else, who apparently knew all about her affair with Voltaire, and raised no terminating objection).
The recognition to which du Châtelet is most entitled, however, is less as Voltaire's lover, than as a commanding intellect - a person we would now call a "physicist."
Among other things, du Châtelet's work in physics was informed by her perception that science is a "social enterprise." In other words, the "great man" theory of scientific progress (or even the "great person" theory, considering the fact that du Châtelet was a woman) has no real claim to authority. She advances the idea that science is a "peculiar kind of social practice." It is not "individualistic." It is, to repeat, a "social enterprise."
Our "World," the life we have built, often called, by way of shortcut, "Human Civilization," is not the product of a bunch of individual insights and actions, added up.
We are "in this together." That is true in the realm of "Politics." It is true, even, in the sphere of pure science.
And thank you for pointing this out, Émilie du Châtelet!
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