Émilie Du Châtelet was a mathematician in France during the 18th century, best known for her translation and work with Issac Newton’s Principia Mathematica. She was a woman passionate about learning, and facilitating conversations covering topics from physics to the nature of happiness. Invitations to her salons, or intellectual parties, were highly sought, and were an integral part of scientific and humanistic learning during the Enlightenment.

My goal with this blog is to capture the spirit of Émilie Du Châtelet, with whom I share my name, and create a space which discusses science as a humanist. I plan to discuss much of what I have been learning as a graduate student in the history of science, technology, and medicine, as well as some of my own personal research interests. As this blog grows, I hope to discuss science in the modern era as a historian of science, and I hope that my writing sparks conversations about science, much in the same way that salons did in the 18th century.