Baron Pierre Charles François Dupin (; 6 October 1784, Varzy, Nièvre – 18 January 1873,

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

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) was a French

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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, mathematical structure, structure, space, Mathematica ...

, engineer, economist and politician, particularly known for work in the field of mathematics, where the Dupin cyclide and Dupin indicatrix are named after him; and for his work in the field of statistical and

thematic map A thematic map is a type of map that portrays the geographic pattern of a particular subject matter (theme) in a geographic area. This usually involves the use of map symbols to Geovisualization, visualize selected properties of geographic fe ...

ping. Palsky, Gilles.
Connections and Exchanges in European Thematic Cartography. The case of XIXth century choropleth maps
" ''Formatting Europe. Mapping a continent.'' 2007 In 1826 he created the earliest known

choropleth map A choropleth map () is a type of statistical thematic map that uses pseudocolor, meaning color corresponding with an aggregate summary of a geographic characteristic within spatial enumeration units, such as population density or per-capita inco ...

. Michael Friendly (2008)
"Milestones in the history of thematic cartography, statistical graphics, and data visualization"

Life and work

He was born in Varzy in France, the son of Charles Andre Dupin, a lawyer, and Catherine Agnes Dupin. His elder brother is André Marie Jean Jacques Dupin. Dupin studied

geometry Geometry (; ) is a branch of mathematics concerned with properties of space such as the distance, shape, size, and relative position of figures. Geometry is, along with arithmetic, one of the oldest branches of mathematics. A mathematician w ...

with Monge at the

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and then became a naval engineer ( ENSTA). His mathematical work was in descriptive and

differential geometry Differential geometry is a Mathematics, mathematical discipline that studies the geometry of smooth shapes and smooth spaces, otherwise known as smooth manifolds. It uses the techniques of Calculus, single variable calculus, vector calculus, lin ...

. He was the discoverer of conjugate tangents to a point on a surface and of the Dupin indicatrix. Dupin participated in the Greek science revival by teaching mathematics and mechanics lessons in

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in 1808. One of his students was Giovanni Carandino, who would go on to be the founder of the Greek Mathematics School in the 1820s. From 1807 Dupin was responsible for the restoration of the damaged port and arsenal at

. He founded the

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Maritime Museum in 1813. In 1818, Dupin was elected to the body of the

French Academy of Sciences The French Academy of Sciences (, ) is a learned society, founded in 1666 by Louis XIV at the suggestion of Jean-Baptiste Colbert, to encourage and protect the spirit of French Scientific method, scientific research. It was at the forefron ...

, one of the Institut de France's five Academies. He was appointed professor at the Conservatoire des Arts et Métiers in 1819; he kept this post until 1854. In 1822, Dupin was elected a foreign member of the

Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences () is one of the Swedish Royal Academies, royal academies of Sweden. Founded on 2 June 1739, it is an independent, non-governmental scientific organization that takes special responsibility for promoting nat ...

. He was made a baron in 1824. In 1826 he published a

showing the distribution of illiteracy in France, using shadings (from black to white), the first known instance of what is called a

today. Dupin had been inspired by the work of the German statisticians Georg Hassel and August Friedrich Wilhelm Crome. Dupin was named rapporteur for the central jury of the Exposition des produits de l'industrie française en 1834. For each branch of industry he noted the quantities and value of French exports and imports, with comparative figures for 1823, 1827 and 1834. Dupin also had a political career and was appointed to the Senate in 1852.

Selected publications

* Dupin, François Pierre Charles. ''Développements de géométrie.'' (1813). * Dupin, François Pierre Charles. ''Discours et leçons sur l'industrie, le commerce, la marine, et sur les sciences appliquées aux arts.'' 1825. * Dupin, François Pierre Charles.
Canal maritime de Suez. Imprimerie de Mallet-Bachelier
'' 1858. * Developments in geometry, with applications to the stability of vessels, to cuts and embankments, to scrolling, to optics, etc. to follow on from the descriptive geometry and the analytical geometry of M. Monge: Theory, Paris, V e Courcier,1813, 373 p. ( read online archive ). * Memoirs on the navy and the bridges and roads of France and England: containing two accounts of voyages made by the author in the ports of England, Scotland and Ireland, in the years 1816, 1817 and 1818; the description of the Plymouth jetty, the Caledonian Canal, etc., Paris, Bachelier,1818, 468 p. ( read online archive )— Dedicated to Prony . * Letter to Mylady Morgan on Racine and Shakespeare archive 1818 * A rare foray of Dupin's pen outside of science and politics. Dupin critiques a best-selling book by Lady Morgan, née Sydney Owenson. * Historical essay on the services and scientific works of Gaspard Monge archive 1819 (Digitization: Gallica ) * Applications of geometry and mechanics, to the navy, bridges and roads, etc., to follow on from the Developments of geometry archive 1822 * (with Laplace, Prony, Girard and Ampère ) Report made to the Institut de France, (Academy of Sciences), on the advantages, on the disadvantages, and on the comparative dangers of steam engines, in simple, medium and high pressure systems archive 1823 * Travels in Great Britain, undertaken in relation to the public services of war, the navy, and bridges and roads, to commerce and industry since 1816, Paris, Bachelier, 1825, 6 volumes, 3 parts : Volumes 1 & 2: Military force. Constitution of the army. Studies & works archive . Volumes 3 & 4: Naval force. Constitution of the navy . Studies & works. Volumes 5 & 6: Commercial force (public works and associations section). Public roads, squares, streets, roads, canals, bridges and highways, coasts and seaports.

References

External links

* *
Entry in MacTutor History of Mathematics
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dupin, Charles 1784 births 1873 deaths People from Nièvre French barons French Roman Catholics Orléanists Party of Order politicians Bonapartists Members of the 4th Chamber of Deputies of the Bourbon Restoration Members of the 1st Chamber of Deputies of the July Monarchy Members of the 2nd Chamber of Deputies of the July Monarchy Members of the 3rd Chamber of Deputies of the July Monarchy Members of the 1848 Constituent Assembly Members of the National Legislative Assembly of the French Second Republic Members of Parliament for Tarn Members of Parliament for Seine Members of Parliament for Seine-Maritime French senators of the Second Empire 18th-century French mathematicians 19th-century French mathematicians Differential geometers Data and information visualization experts French civil engineers École Polytechnique alumni Members of the French Academy of Sciences Members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences