Joseph-Louis Lagrange

Joseph-Louis Lagrange (1736–1813) was an Italian-born French mathematician and astronomer whose work transformed analytical mechanics, number theory, and the calculus of variations.

Leonhard Euler: Leonhard Euler was an eighteenth-century Swiss mathematician whose work shaped analysis, mechanics, and number theory. Euler recognized Lagrange’s early work and helped secure his appointment in Berlin.
Lagrangian mechanics: Lagrangian mechanics formulates motion through generalized coordinates and the difference between kinetic and potential energy. This framework is Lagrange’s most influential reorganization of classical mechanics.
Newtonian mechanics: Newtonian mechanics describes motion through forces, mass, and Newton’s laws. Lagrange reformulated classical motion without making forces the starting point.
Celestial mechanics: Celestial mechanics applies mathematical laws to the motion of planets, moons, and other astronomical bodies. Lagrange used analytical methods to study the stability and motion of the Solar System.
Turin: Turin is a city in northern Italy and the historic capital of the House of Savoy. Lagrange was born and began his mathematical career in Turin.
Pierre-Simon Laplace: Pierre-Simon Laplace was a French mathematician and astronomer known for celestial mechanics and probability theory. Laplace continued the mathematical astronomy that Lagrange helped establish.
Calculus of variations: Calculus of variations finds functions that make a quantity, such as an integral, stationary. Lagrange developed systematic techniques for solving variational problems.
Generalized momentum: Generalized momentum is the quantity conjugate to a coordinate in analytical mechanics. Lagrange’s equations relate coordinate changes to these momentum-like quantities.
Lagrange points: Lagrange points are locations in a two-body system where a small object can remain in a stable relative position. Their discovery arose from Lagrange’s analysis of the restricted three-body problem.
Turin Academy of Sciences: The Turin Academy of Sciences is a learned society founded in the eighteenth century. Lagrange helped establish its scientific standing through his early publications.

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