Short Biography: Augustin-Louis Cauchy
Cauchy was born on August 21, 1789 and grew up in Paris as a young child [6,
p.1]. Life was difficult because it was during the time of the French Revolution.
Cauchy’s family moved to Arcueil, fearing the dangers of life in Paris [6, p.1].
Nevertheless, they soon returned to Paris and Cauchy began his education. Most of
Cauchy’s early education was from his father, Louis Francois Cauchy. The family was often visited by mathematicians, such as Lagrange and Laplace. Lagrange took a deep interest in Cauchy’s education, suggesting that Cauchy receive a good education in languages prior to studying mathematics [2, p.1]. In 1802, Cauchy entered Ecole Centrale du Pantheon studying classical languages. Two years later, Cauchy began studying mathematics and entered Ecole Polytechnique, placing second in his class. He attended classes taught by Lacroix, de Prony, and Hachette and his analysis tutor was Ampere. In 1807, he graduated and enrolled at Ecole des Ponts et Chaussees to study engineering. Cauchy excelled at practical work in his studies and, in 1810, got an engineering job in Cherbourg working on port facilities for Napoleon’s English invasion fleet [1, p.40]. He brought a copy of two of Lagrange’s books, Mechanique Celeste and Theorie de Fonctions, which he studied copiously [6, p.3]. Cauchy began his mathematical career a year later by solving a problem set introduced by Lagrange, which was that the angles of a convex polyhedron are determined by its faces. His solution is still considered a clever and intelligent piece of classic mathematics [1, p.142].
In beginning his work with mathematics, Cauchy found his strong Catholic beliefs to be in conflict with his work. Cauchy’s devotion he had to mathematics caused him to become isolated from his religious community [6, p.2]. Cauchy felt that in order to be an established mathematician he had to return to Paris; however, in 1813, he became ill, possibly due to depression, and was forced to return to Paris. In
p.1]. Life was difficult because it was during the time of the French Revolution.
Cauchy’s family moved to Arcueil, fearing the dangers of life in Paris [6, p.1].
Nevertheless, they soon returned to Paris and Cauchy began his education. Most of
Cauchy’s early education was from his father, Louis Francois Cauchy. The family was often visited by mathematicians, such as Lagrange and Laplace. Lagrange took a deep interest in Cauchy’s education, suggesting that Cauchy receive a good education in languages prior to studying mathematics [2, p.1]. In 1802, Cauchy entered Ecole Centrale du Pantheon studying classical languages. Two years later, Cauchy began studying mathematics and entered Ecole Polytechnique, placing second in his class. He attended classes taught by Lacroix, de Prony, and Hachette and his analysis tutor was Ampere. In 1807, he graduated and enrolled at Ecole des Ponts et Chaussees to study engineering. Cauchy excelled at practical work in his studies and, in 1810, got an engineering job in Cherbourg working on port facilities for Napoleon’s English invasion fleet [1, p.40]. He brought a copy of two of Lagrange’s books, Mechanique Celeste and Theorie de Fonctions, which he studied copiously [6, p.3]. Cauchy began his mathematical career a year later by solving a problem set introduced by Lagrange, which was that the angles of a convex polyhedron are determined by its faces. His solution is still considered a clever and intelligent piece of classic mathematics [1, p.142].
In beginning his work with mathematics, Cauchy found his strong Catholic beliefs to be in conflict with his work. Cauchy’s devotion he had to mathematics caused him to become isolated from his religious community [6, p.2]. Cauchy felt that in order to be an established mathematician he had to return to Paris; however, in 1813, he became ill, possibly due to depression, and was forced to return to Paris. In
Cited: 1. “Augustin-Louis Cauchy”. The Dictionary of Scientific Biographies. New York: Scribners, Volume 3, 1971, p. 131-147. 2. “Augustin Louis Cauchy”. Wikipedia Encyclopedia.. 3. Grabiner, Judith V. “The Origins of Cauchy’s Rigorous Calculus.”Massachusetts: The MIT Press, 1981. 4. Grabiner, Judith V. “Who Gave You the Epsilon? Cauchy and the Origins of Rigorous Calculus.” The American Mathematical Monthly, Vol. 90, No. 3 (Mar 1983), 185-194. 5. “Mathematical Analysis”. Wikipedia Encyclopedia. . 6. O’Connor, J.J. and Robertson, E.F. “Augustin Louis Cauchy”. 01 Dec 08 .