Étienne Bobillier (17 April 1798 – 22 March 1840) was a French

mathematician A mathematician is someone who uses an extensive knowledge of mathematics in their work, typically to solve mathematical problems. Mathematicians are concerned with numbers, data, quantity, structure, space, models, and change. History On ...

. He was born in Lons-le-Saunier, France. At the age of 19 he was accepted into the

École Polytechnique École may refer to: * an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by secondary education establishments (collège and lycée) * École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing in région Île-de-France * École, Savoi ...

and studied there for a year. However, due to a shortage of money, in 1818 he became an instructor in mathematics at the École des Arts et Métiers in Châlons-sur-Marne. In 1829, he was sent to

Angers Angers (, , ) is a city in western France, about southwest of Paris. It is the prefecture of the Maine-et-Loire department and was the capital of the province of Anjou until the French Revolution. The inhabitants of both the city and the pr ...

to be director of studies. The following year he served in the national guard during the 1830 revolution. In 1832 he returned to Châlons after his post was abolished, and was promoted to professor. In 1836 he began suffering from health problems, but continued teaching; declining to take a leave to recuperate. As a result, he died in Châlons at the relatively early age of 41. He is noted for his work on geometry, particularly the algebraic treatment of geometric surfaces and the polars of curves. He also worked on statics and the

catenary In physics and geometry, a catenary (, ) is the curve that an idealized hanging chain or cable assumes under its own weight when supported only at its ends in a uniform gravitational field. The catenary curve has a U-like shape, superfici ...

. The crater Bobillier on the Moon is named after him.

Works

''Cours de géométrie''
1849
''Principes d'algèbre''
1865

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bobillier, Etienne 1798 births 1840 deaths People from Lons-le-Saunier École Polytechnique alumni 19th-century French mathematicians