Charles Marie de La Condamine

Charles-Marie de La Condamine

Charles Marie de La Condamine (January 28, 1701 – February 4, 1774) was a French explorer, geographer, and mathematician.

La Condamine was born in Paris. He was trained for the military profession, but turned his attention to science and geographical exploration. Before his journey to South America, he took part in a scientific expedition in the Levant in 1731.

South America exploration

La Condamine became a member of the expedition that was sent to Peru in 1735 to determine the length of a degree of the meridian in the neighborhood of the equator; this work laid the basis for the determination of the length of the meter. The group was led by Louis Godin and included Pierre Bouguer, Antonio de Ulloa, and Jorge Juan y Santacilia. His associations with his principals were unhappy; the expedition was beset by many difficulties, and finally La Condamine split from the rest and made his way to Quito, Ecuador separately, discovering rubber in the process. Insufficient funds prevented La Condamine from returning to France directly when he reached Quito. Thus he decided to take the trip down the Amazon, ultimately reaching Cayenne. His was the first scientific exploration of the Amazon. He returned to Paris in 1744 and published the results of his measurements and travels with a map of the Amazon in Mém. de l'Académie des Sciences, 1745 (English translation 1745-1747). This included the first descriptions by a European of the Casiquiare canal and the curare arrow poison prepared by the Amerindians. He also noted the correct use of quinine to fight malaria. The journal of his ten-year long voyage to South America was published in Paris in 1751.

Later years

On a visit to Rome La Condamine made careful measurements of the ancient buildings with a view to a precise determination of the length of the Roman foot. He also wrote in favour of inoculation, and on various other subjects, mainly connected with his work in South America. In 1760 he was nominated to the Academie Francaise. He died in Paris after a hernia operation.

Works

South America

• Journal du voyage fait par ordre du roi à l'équateur (Paris 1751, Supplement 1752)
• Relation abrégée d'un voyage fait dans l'intérieur del'Amérique méridionale (Paris 1759)
• “Mémoire sur quelques anciens monumens du Perou [sic], du tems des Incas”, in: Histoire de l’Académie Royale des Sciences et Belles Lettres II (1746), Berlin 1748, S. 435-456 (hier als PDF).

Others

• La figure de la terre déterminée (Paris 1749)
• Mesure des trois premiers degrés du méridien dans l'hémisphère australe (Paris 1751)
• Histoire de l'inoculation de la petite vérole (Amsterdam 1773)

References

• This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica, Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.
• Victor Wolfgang von Hagen: South America called them; explorations of the great naturalists: La Condamine, Humboldt, Darwin, Spruce. New York: Knopf, 1945
• Robert Whitaker: The Mapmaker's Wife. London: Doubleday, 2004. (The full story of the expedition to South America, drawn from the original documents.)
• Neil Safier, Measuring the New World: Enlightenment Science and South America, Univ. of Chicago Press, 2008. ISBN 0226733556

External links

• French Academy of Sciences biography
• O'Connor, John J.; Robertson, Edmund F., "Charles Marie de La Condamine", MacTutor History of Mathematics archive .