Joseph Langrang

Sheila Heiman
Mr. Percival
Astronomy
02 Jan. 2009
Joseph Langrang

Giuseppe Lodovico Langrangia was born on January 1736, more formally known as Joseph-Louis Langrang. Langrang was born in Turin, Italy which was the capital of the kingdom of Sardinia. Langrang was born to a Dad named Giuseppe Francesco Lagrangia and a mother by the name of Teresa Grosso. Lagrang’s Dad was the Treasurer of the Office of Public Workers and Fortifications in their home city. Teresa was well known from being the daughter of a doctor from Cambiano. Although Langrang’s family held some importance to the king of Sardinia, the family was not wealthy due to the Dad’s failure in unsuccessful financial speculations. Lagrang was the eldest of 11 children born to his parents; however he was one of only two children to actually reach adulthood.
As Joseph grew a career in the law field was preplanned for his future. Joseph accepted this keenly, and was sent to the College of Turin. While studying in this college, Langrang’s favorite subject was classical Latin. Langrang had little interest for mathematics do to the fact that Greed geometry was considered dull to him. It was not till later in his life that he cultivated an interest in math and the mathematical equations involved in astronomy. A curiosity in math began after Joseph read a copy of Halley, a 1963 work on the algebra used in optics. Langrang lived part of his life in Prussia and then another portion of his life in France; where he made most of his significant contributions to the fields of: analysis, number theory, classical, and celestial mechanics. Physics was another interest of Joseph that first got his attention after an inspiring class taught by Beccaria at his college.

Langrang dedicate himself to his love of math, but for the most part he was self-taught. His first mathematical piece of work was published on July 23rd 1754. This published piece of work drew similarities between the derivatives of functions and analogies of binomial theorem. After his first publication he began his work on the tautochrone, which is the curve which a weighted particle will arrive at a fixed point at the same independent as the initial position. Towards the ending of 1754, the discovery Lanrang made on tautochrone assisted on the new subject of calculus of variations.

Langrang was particularly interested in the math that was associated with astronomy. He is mostly known in the field of astronomy for the various problems that he did on published papers. In the year 1764 he began to work on the reason why the same side of the Moon continuously faced Earth.
Also researching the satellites of Jupiter in 1766. Most of the attributes that he had in the astronomical field was between the years of 1772- 1793. In 1772 Joseph attempted to solve the three-body problem which resulted in the finding of the Lagrangian points, which can detect the two body systems in space. He focused directly on the Earth, Sun, and Moon. Joseph wrote papers on the attraction of ellipsoids in 1772, the secular equation of the Moon written in 1773, the motion of the nodes of the orbit of the planet in 1774, and the stability of the planetary orbit in 1776. Lagrang also did work covering the orbit of a comet that he witnessed three times; as well as the determination of the secular and periodic variations of the elements of the planets in our solar system. In 1780 he proved his solution by discovering the idea of generalized equation of motion. In the years 1778 and 1783 he found a method in determining the orbit of a comet.

By the year 1786, it was known that Joseph moved to Paris where he was given the title of senator and a count in the first empire of France. This is where he became the member of the French academy of science. Langrang met his second wife Renee-Francoise-Adelaide Le Monnie and stayed married to her until his death. Napoleon in 1808 made Langrang the Grand officer of the Legion of Honor and Comte of the empire. Langrang was also awarded the Grand Croix of the Order Imperial de la Reunion. The death of Joseph Langrang is said to be caused by his frequent bouts of depression. Langrang died on April 10th, 1813 in Paris, France. He was laid to rest in the Pantheon in Paris. A street in Paris is named rue Lagrang in his honor. The street Langrang was also born on was named via Lagrang in respect as well.


Works Cited
The Coloumbia Encyclopedia. 6th ed. New York: : Columbia UP, 2009.

"Joseph-Louis Lagrange Biography." Biography Base Home. 03 Jan. 2010. .

"Joseph-Louis Lagrange." Fakulteta za matematiko in fiziko. 03 Jan. 2010. .

"Lagrange summary." MacTutor History of Mathematics. 03 Jan. 2010. .