Georges-Louis Le Sage - Life and Education

Life and Education

Le Sage was born in Geneva, his father was Georges-Louis Le Sage from Conques in Burgundy and his mother Anne Marie Gamp, a descendant of Théodore Agrippa d'Aubigné. His father, who was the author of many papers on various subjects, occupied his son of his own studies early, including the works of the Roman poet Lucretius at the age of 13. According to Prévost and after some notices of Le Sage, the education by his parents in his early years was very strict, and Le Sage reacted to this by isolating himself and with meditation on various subjects. Contrary to his father, who allegedly only accepted facts and had little interest in generalization, Le Sage was primarily interested in general and abstract principles. This was forced by his weak memory and his tendency to meditation.

Le Sage took the first regular education at the college of Geneva, were was friendly connected with Jean-André Deluc. Besides philosophy, he studied mathematics under Gabriel Cramer, and physics under Calendrini. Later he decided to study medicine in Basel, where he also gave private lessons in mathematics. Here, Le Sage also met Daniel Bernoulli, whose work on the kinetic nature of gases was very influential to him. Then Le Sage left Basel and continued to study medicine in Paris. After he came back to Geneva, Le Sage tried to work as a physician, but it was denied because his father was a native from France. There, he was friendly connected with Charles Bonnet.

Against the will of his father Le Sage devoted his life to mathematics and, in particular, a search for the mechanisms of gravity. He tried to become a professor for mathematics in Geneva, but he couldn't get the position.

Although Le Sage published not many papers in his life, he had an extensive letter exchange to people like Jean le Rond d'Alembert, Leonhard Euler, Paolo Frisi, Roger Joseph Boscovich, Johann Heinrich Lambert, Pierre Simon Laplace, Daniel Bernoulli, Firmin Abauzit, Lord Stanhope etc..

He gave private lessons in mathematics, and his pupils, including La Rochefoucauld, Simon Lhuilier, Pierre Prévost, were deeply impressed by his personality. He was a correspondent of the Paris Academy of Science and also became a foreign member of the Royal Society. Le Sage died at the age of 79 in Geneva.