Joseph Louis Lagrange

Written by  

Ben Rosen

1 st hour

Pre Calculus

              Joseph Louis Lagrange was born in Turin, Italy on January 25, 1736.   His father, Giuseppe Francesco Lodovilo Lagrangia was the treasurer of the office of public works in Turin.   His mother, Teresa Grosso was the daughter of a medical worker.   Lagrange had nine brothers and sisters of which he was the eldest.   Only two of his siblings would survive to adulthood.  

              Lagrange attended school at Turin.   When he first arrived there, he studied Latin, but later after reading Halley's work on algebra in optics, he grew an interest in math.   Perhaps Lagrange's first big accomplishment, he wrote a letter to Euler when he was nineteen in which he solved the isoperimetrical problem, which for more than half a century had been disagreed on.   In 1758, Lagrange and some of his students at Turin Academy wrote the five volume set of his writings called the Miscellanea Taurinensia.   In 1759, Lagrange was made a professor at Ecole normale, which was a new establishment at the time.

              Lagrange had many influential people in his life.   They included Euler, Dohamm, Bernoulli, Leibniz, and perhaps the person who left the most impact on him, Frederick II.   Frederick wanted Lagrange as his mathematician saying, “the greatest king in Europe to have the greatest mathematician in Europe.” While Lagrange was good at work, his wife of a short time and unhappy with the marriage died suddenly.   Frederick died in the year 1787, which is when Lagrange moved to Paris.

              Lagrange's major mathematical contributions included the writing of Analytic Functions, which was written for his most fervent desire to discover an algebraic foundation for calculus.   In one of his books, Lagrange marks a mistake made by Newton in his laws of motion.   Also, he writes a complete solution for the problem of a string vibrating transversely.   Lagrange also wrote of the solution of several dynamical problems by means of the calculus of variations.

              Lagrange was described as being of medium height with pale blue eyes and a colorless complexion.   Lagrange was also nervous and timid.   He detested controversy and he also willingly allowed others to take credit for his work.   Also, when Lagrange married, it was to one of his relatives.

Lagrange died in Paris on April 10, 1813.   Lagrange is known as the greatest mathematician of the eighteenth century.   Lagrange took part in the advancement of almost every branch of pure mathematics.   He possessed a special genius for the theory of numbers and corrected many formulas by other mathematicians.   Lagrange certainly deserves the title of the greatest mathematician of his time.

Bibliography

http://www.maths.tcd.ie/pub/HistMath/People/Lagrange/RouseBall/RB_Lagrange.html

http://www.mchschool.org/jsrour/mathematicians/josephlouislagrange.htm

World Book Encyclopedia 2003