Emilie Du Chatelet: Daring Genius of the Enlightenment

The captivating biography of the French aristocrat who balanced the demands of her society with passionate affairs of the heart and a brilliant life of the mind

Although today she is best known for her fifteen-year liaison with Voltaire, Gabrielle Emilie le Tonnelier de Breteuil, Marquise Du Ch telet (1706-1749) was more than a great man's mistress. After marrying a marquis at the age of eighteen, she proceeded to fulfill the prescribed-and delightfully frivolous-role of a French noblewoman of her time. But she also challenged it, conducting a highly visible affair with a commoner, writing philosophical works, and translating Newton's Principia while pregnant by a younger lover. With the sweep of Galileo's Daughter, Emilie Du Ch telet captures the charm, glamour, and brilliance of this magnetic woman.

Author: Judith P. Zinsser
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Published: 12/01/2007
Pages: 400
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.81lbs
Size: 8.40h x 6.04w x 0.83d
ISBN: 9780143112686

About the Author
Judith P. Zinsser is co-author of the landmark two-volume history of European women, A History of Their Own, and teaches at Miami University in Ohio. A recognized expert on the Marquise Du Ch?telet, she was featured in October on the PBS Nova special Einstein's Big Idea.