Works
Fatio's greatest scientific success was the explanation of the nature of the zodiacal light in 1684, which he attributed to particles reflecting the light of the sun. In 1688 he gave an account on the mechanical explanation of gravitation of Huygens before the Royal Society, whereby he tried to connect Huygens' theory with that of Newton. In 1690 he wrote a letter to Huygens, in which he outlined his own gravitational theory, which later was known as Le Sage's theory of gravitation. Soon after that he read its content before the Royal Society. This theory, on which he worked until his death, is based on minute particles which push gross matter to each other.
However, Fatio is most known by his important role at the Newton v. Leibniz calculus controversy, over who was the inventor of the calculus. He indirectly reproached Leibniz in a letter in 1699, that Leibniz had taken hold of an intellectual property not belonging to him and therefore started the quarrel.
To optimize the capture of solar energy, and thereby plant productivity, Fatio in 1699 suggested using a tracking mechanism which could pivot to follow the Sun. Around 1700 he and Pierre de Baufre tried to use jewels as wheel bearings in mechanical clocks. In 1705 both received a patent for that still common technology.
Read more about this topic: Nicolas Fatio De Duillier
Famous quotes containing the word works:
“Was it an intellectual consequence of this ‘rebirth,’ of this new dignity and rigor, that, at about the same time, his sense of beauty was observed to undergo an almost excessive resurgence, that his style took on the noble purity, simplicity and symmetry that were to set upon all his subsequent works that so evident and evidently intentional stamp of the classical master.”
—Thomas Mann (1875–1955)
“They that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in great waters, these see the works of the Lord and his wonders in the deep.”
—Bible: Hebrew Psalms, 107:23-4.
“The works of women are symbolical.
We sew, sew, prick our fingers, dull our sight,
Producing what? A pair of slippers, sir,
To put on when you’re weary or a stool
To stumble over and vex you ... “curse that stool!”
Or else at best, a cushion, where you lean
And sleep, and dream of something we are not,
But would be for your sake. Alas, alas!
This hurts most, this ... that, after all, we are paid
The worth of our work, perhaps.”
—Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806–1861)