X-Nico

3281 Maupertuis

The crater was named for the French mathematician and astronomer Pierre Louis Maupertuis (1698 – 1759).

Evolutionary ideas of the Renaissance and Enlightenment

In his Venus Physique in 1745, and System of Nature in 1751, Pierre Louis Maupertuis veered toward more materialist ground.

Maupertuis' principle

In classical mechanics, Maupertuis' principle (named after Pierre Louis Maupertuis), is that the path followed by a physical system is the one of least length (with a suitable interpretation of path and length).

see also