Monge

Monge, GASPARD, a French mathematician and physicist, was born of humble parentage at Beaune, in the department of Côte d'Or, 10th May 1746. When only fifteen, he went to study natural philosophy at the Oratorian College of Lyons, and afterwards obtained admission into the famous artillery school at Mézières, where he invented the method known as 'Descriptive Geometry.' In 1780 he was chosen a member of the French Academy, and was called to the Paris Lyceum as professor of Hydrodynamics. During the heat of the Revolution he became minister of Marine, but soon took charge of the great manufactories for supplying republican France with arms and gunpowder. After he had founded the École Polytechnique, he was sent by the Directory to Italy. Here he formed a close friendship with Bonaparte, and, following him to Egypt, undertook the management of the newly-founded Egyptian Institute. On his return to France, he resumed his functions as professor in the École Polytechnique, and, though his reverence for Napoleon continued unabated, he hotly opposed his aristocratic and dynastic views. The title of Count of Pelusium was conferred on him by Napoleon. He died 28th July 1818. His principal works were Traité Élémentaire de Statique (1788), Leçons de Géométrie Descriptive (1795), and Application de l'Analyse à la Géométrie (1795).