THE OPTIMIST Émilie du Châtelet

A woman in 18th century dress with grey powdered hair holds a mathematical instrument and sits in front of a pile of books and papers — Émilie du Châtelet
Portrait by Maurice Quentin de La Tour

Do we live in the best of all possible worlds? Émilie du Châtelet thought so, and set out to prove it with empirical evidence three hundred years ago. Raised at the lavish court of Louis XIV, she stood out like a sore thumb: while the women around her were glamorous, graceful and illiterate, she was clunky, fierce, and bookish. The story of her world-changing contribution to science is as delightful as it is surprising: part frilly courtier, part mad-scientist, she fed her voracious appetite for books by sword-fighting and card-counting at Versailles. In this episode, visit the country chateau where she and her lover, Voltaire, became famous for living their best life.

Interview with Madame Contesse de Salignac Fenelon recorded on location at Chateau Cirey in Cirey-sur-Blaise, France.

Émilie du Châtelet voiced by Emily Wadley.

A woman in 18th century dress with light red hair and a white dress and red-brown velvet drape — Portrait of Emilie du Châtelet
Nicholas de Largillière

A woman in 18th century dress with grey powdered hair with a blue dress with brown fur trim — Portrait of Emilie du Châtelet
Marianne Loir
Musée des Beaux-Arts de Bordeaux

A castle-chateau stands on a green hill — Chateau Cirey
photo by Katie Nelson

A chateau across a green courtyard with a statue of Voltaire in the foreground — Chateau Cirey with a statue of Voltaire in foreground
photo by Jonathan Howard

An engraving of a man sitting on a cloud looking down at a woman holding a mirror, "bouncing" his thoughts to a man sitting writing at a table — In the frontispiece to Voltaire’s book on Newton’s philosophy, du Châtelet appears as Voltaire’s muse, reflecting Newton’s heavenly insights down to Voltaire.

Two people stand in front of a formal double door surrounded with carved stone archways and floral motifs — Katie and Marc Nelson in front of the doorway designed by Émilie du Châtelet and Voltaire to symbolize the meaning of life
photo courtesy of Katie Nelson

A tudor-style cottage on a green hillside — Émilie du Châtelet’s summer cottage
photo by Katie Nelson

A streetsign reading Rue du Chatelet — The street in front of the Chateau Cirey grounds
photo by Katie Nelson

Portrait of a man in 17th century dress with a long white powdered wig — Portrait of Voltaire
Nicholas de Largillière

Music featured in this episode includes

“Cello Suite One in G Prelude” by JS Bach performed by John Michel (free download)

“The Four Seasons” by Antonio Vivaldi, performed by the Wichita State University Chamber Players (free download)

“Monsieur’s Almain from the Manc” by Phillip Serna

“Brandenberg Concerto No 3 Allegro” by JS Bach performed by Advent Chamber Orchestra (free download)

“Andante from Italian Concerto, BWV 971″ by JS Bach performed by Catrin Finch (free download)

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Women's history paper portraits of 8 female scientists by Paper People Portraits — Paper People Portraits: Scientists
featuring Emilie du Chatelet

2 Comments

Peggy Elliott

February 25, 2019 at 8:38 pm 5 years ago

It is wonderful to see this brief introduction to a brilliant and influential Enlightenment thinker. It is unfortunate that you publish the cover of Voltaire’s thoughts on Newton to display an image of Emilie as his muse, rather than publishing the cover of Du Chatelet’s translation and annotations on Newton’s In Principia, a groundbreaking work still in use today.
Thank you for sharing with the world!
What'sHerName

February 26, 2019 at 7:30 am 5 years ago

Thanks for the comment! Of course we understand what you’re saying, but we think it’s very important to remember how these amazing women were remembered and “taught” for so long, so we can avoid those same mistakes and “erasings” in the future. This image is a good example of the ways powerful innovative women’s voices were depicted and diffused for centuries.

Comments are closed.