


Lot 58•
CLAIRAUT (ALEXIS CLAUDE) Theorie de la figure de la terre, tiree des principes de l'hydrostatique, FIRST EDITION, Paris, David fils, 1743
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CLAIRAUT (ALEXIS CLAUDE)
Theorie de la figure de la terre, tiree des principes de l'hydrostatique, FIRST EDITION, engraved vignette on title-page, library stamp on title-page, woodcut diagrams in the text, scattered spotting, later vellum with blue morocco title label on spine, uncut, light wear, spine faded, 8vo, Paris, David fils, 1743
Footnotes
Alexis Claude Clairaut (1713-1765) was a member of the French expedition to Lapland, led by P.-L. Moreau de Maupertius, to measure the length of a degree of latitude near the North Pole. Following the expedition, Clairaut helped confirm the shape of the Earth to be an oblate spheroid, vindicating the theories of Huygens and Newton. "It was also in this work, considered a scientific classic, that the formula named for Clairaut, expressing the earth's gravity as a function of latitude, is found" (DSB III, 282).
Provenance: Collegio Universitario Antonianum, Biblioteca, Padova, stamp on title-page and label with shelfmark on spine.