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Pierre-Simon Laplace was born in Beaumont-en-Auge, France on Mar. 23, 1749. Very little is known of his early childhood. He attended Caen University, majoring in theology. Laplace intended to join the church upon graduation. However, he became aware of his mathematical talents and decided to leave the university. Laplace traveled to Paris where he studied mathematics under Jean le Rond d'Alembert, a brillant mathematician and scientist who pioneered the use differential equations in physics and studied equilibrium and fluid motion. d'Alembert was so impressed with Laplace that he appointed him professor of mathematics at the Ecole Militaire at the young age of 19. In 1773, he joined the Paris Academy of Sciences. In 1785, Laplace was an examiner at the Royal Artillery Corps. One of his students was Napoleon Bonaparte who was sixteen at the time.
Among his many contributions, Laplace is best remembered for introducing the potential function and Laplace coefficients and Laplace transforms. The Laplacian, which represents the divergence of the gradient of a scalar function, is used to help simplify the time-independent Schrodinger equation.
Some of his other noteworthy accomplishments include proving the stability of the solar system, deriving the least squares rule, contributing to the study of electricity and magnetism, solidifying the theory of mathematical probability, and performing experiments on capillary action and specific heat with Antoine Lavoisier.
Links:
http://www.efunda.com/math/laplace_transform/index.cfm
http://www.plmsc.psu.edu/~www/matsc597/vectors/curvilinear/node12.html
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