Augustin-Louis Cauchy | Biography

Cauchy's father was a brilliant classical scholar who, in his early years, held the post of barrister at the parlement of Normandy. During the terror of the French Revolution, the Cauchy family moved out of harm's way to the village of Arcueil, where the great scientists Pierre-Simon Marquis de Laplace and Claude Berthollet also lived. Here, the young Augustin Cauchy grew up and became personally acquainted with his illustrious neighbors. Laplace recognized Cauchy's scientific aptitude but recommended a sound literary education, first, before pursuing scientific endeavors.

When he was fifteen years old, Cauchy completed his classical studies and after several months of preparation, was admitted to the Ecole Polytechnique in Paris. He also studied engineering at the Ecole de Ponts et Chaussées, which he left in 1809 to take a job as an engineer at the Ourcq Canal works and then at the Saint-Cloud bridge. In 1810, Cauchy worked at the Cherbourg harbor naval base, which Napoleon had created for operations against England. Apparently, Cauchy 's health was not good. He returned to Paris and in 1816 was made full professor at the Ecole Polytechnique. That year Cauchy won a prize offered by the French Academy for what is now regarded as a classic paper on the propagation of waves at the surface of a liquid.

With the restoration of the monarchy in France, following the defeat of Napoleon, Cauchy was appointed a member of the Academie des Sciences. It was during this time that Cauchy's most important mathematical endeavors were begun. The 1820s saw the publication of Cauchy's most important works. In three great treatises, he clarified the principles of calculus by elaborating on the use of limits and continuity. Along with Carl Friedrich Gauss, he also provided one of the first complete theories of complex numbers by building on the work of Robert Argand. He contributed to astronomy, mechanics, and physics as well. In fact, more theorems are named after Cauchy than any other mathematician. In mathematical elastic theory alone, which Cauchy invented, there are sixteen concepts named after him.

The quiet course of his life changed suddenly in 1830, when political events in France, once again, came to a crisis point. Charles X was replaced on the throne by Louis-Philippe and when Cauchy refused to make the required oath of allegiance, he lost his appointments at the Faculté des Sciences and at the College de France. Cauchy went into exile. In 1833, he went to Prague, where the deposed Charles X had settled, to assist in the education of the crown prince. In 1838, Cauchy returned to France, but his intransigence on matters of political loyalty kept him from resuming his posts. When the Second Republic was established in 1848, the act requiring an oath of allegiance was repealed and Cauchy took up his chair, once more, at the Sorbonne. There he remained until his death in 1857. During his productive life he published seven books and over 700 papers. He is remembered today as one of the greatest and most prolific mathematicians of the nineteenth century.