Great Astronomers: Pierre-Simon Laplace

Pierre-Simon, Marquis de Laplace (1749-1827), was a French mathematician and astronomer, sometimes referred to as the French Newton. His work was pivotal to the mathematical development of astronomy, physics, and statistics. He possessed a phenomenal mathematical ability, superior to that of any of his contemporaries. 


Laplace summarized and extended the work of his predecessors in his five-volume Mécanique Céleste (Celestial Mechanics) (1799–1825). This work elevated the geometric study of classical mechanics to one based on calculus, opening up a broader range of problems.