Passionate Minds: Emilie du Chatelet, Voltaire, and the Great Love Affair of the Enlightenment

by David Bodanis

Book Overview

It was 1733 when the poet and philosopher Voltaire met Emilie du Ch telet, a beguiling--and married--aristocrat who would one day popularize Newton's arcane ideas and pave the way for Einstein's theories. In an era when women were rarely permitted any serious schooling, this twenty-seven-year-old's nimble conversation and unusual brilliance led Voltaire, then in his late thirties, to wonder, "Why did you only reach me so late?" They fell immediately...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0307237214
• ISBN13: 9780307237217
• Release Date: October 2007
• Publisher: Crown Publishing Group (NY)
• Length: 400 Pages
• Weight: 0.71 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.2" x 8.1"

Customer Reviews

Excellent book that stimulates the mind from many different angles

As mentioned by other reviews, this book has it all: romance, science, history, culture... I highly recommend it! Having read it over two years ago now, I am now longing to read it again... And as much as a cliche as it may sound, I believe it can be highly beneficial to gift this book to teenage girls interested in math and science. I have already given it to the little sisters of multiple friends, and they have absolutely loved it. In addition to giving them a wonderful female role model in science and math, they also get to learn about the Enlightenment, Voltaire, France, Germany, etc. So, on top of being inspiring, it's also very educational.

Great historical non-fiction!

No matter your bent, this has something for everyone. Do you like romance, scandal, tragedy, humor, science, math, philosophy or social histories? It's all in there. Quite tragically, Emilie has been relegated to the dust bin of history. If you've read Voltaire, you know him in a singular dimension if you haven't read and absorbed Emilie's indelible fingerprint on his life. One of the best books I read last year, it's a tragedy in that Emilie died too young and her work does not survive her. Who knows what contributions she made in mathematics and sciences? Truly, you may get the idea her intellect transcended that of her lover Voltaire and you might not be far wrong. I can't believe this book only has one review! It's a great book.

Haunting story

If you want something to read that's more improbable and exciting than most fiction, this is an excellent choice. Steeped in history, lovingly researched and with strong scientific underpinnings, this is a book that will make you feel like you almost know Voltaire and wish you knew (and you will weep for) the amazing Emilie du Chatelet.

Great History

This book gave me a fascinating piece of history that I was completly uninformed on. It is fascinating learning the details regarding life in a period that is completly foreign to our culture. It is also fascinating to find out the contributions that women made in science at a time when it was believed that women were completly ignorant, and every effort was made to keep them so.

Who saves sex and science can't mix?

After reading David Bodanis' previous work, E=mc2: A History of the World's Most Famous Equation , I was hooked on this author's way of presenting science and research that was neither boring nor pendantic. Instead, he takes the time to explain how a particular idea or discovery relates to the modern reader, and presents researchers not just as dodgy old coots in laboratories muttering in arcane languages. Instead, Passionate Minds takes a very different route. It begins with a child, a little girl, who grew up in the Paris of Louis XV, a time when women were expected to be not much more than brood mares and ornamental objects. But Emilie was very different. For one thing, she was clever, with a mind that could grasp not just the social niceties of the day -- that of being able to make conversation and turn a witty phrase -- but also understand mathematics and the beginings of modern science, and a particular love of astronomy. To say taht Emilie was unusual for her time is an understatement. Her father adored her, and did everything he could to encourage her studies. Her mother, on the other hand, wasn't too pleased by the intellectual leanings of her daughter's mind, wishing that she would instead be a bit more interested in fashion and young men. Emilie does marry, to a wealthy aristocrat, and it's after here that the story takes on an interesting twist. Today, most marriages are regarded as romantic attachments, but in the eighteenth century, you married more as a business arrangement. A couple married for financial security, or for social status, and Emilie was lucky enough to get both in her husband. She became Madame la Marquise du Chatellet, and after presenting her husband with two children, she embarked on a series of affairs. Adultery, while certainly a sin, was acceptable among the aristocracy so long as decency and discretion was maintained -- it was incorrect to visit both your wife and your mistress when they were in the same town, for example. And Emilie was just as unusual with her lovers as she was with her studies -- one would become the model for Valmont in Les Liaisons Dangereuses and the one who would make the greatest change in her life was the writer known as Voltaire. Voltaire, best known for his play Candide, was a bit of a troublemaker. His Letters from England were publically burned, and he was no stranger to exile either. And when he and Emilie met, they recognized in each other kindred spirits. Voltaire was charming, had made a fortune in wheat speculation, and even became good friends with Emilie's husband. Together they would refurbish a chateau in the countryside that would become a center for learning and scientific exploration, and able to encourage each other in their work, along with maintaining a physical relationship. But when Emilie's work managed to receive more acclaim than Voltaire's, the relationship had a rift. And stung, Emilie turned to her one consolation -- Newtonian physics -- and began the wo