(born Sept. 17, 1743, Ribemont, France—found dead March 29, 1794, Bourg-la-Reine) French mathematician, statesman, and revolutionary. He showed early promise as a mathematician and was a protégé of Jean Le Rond d'Alembert.
In 1777 he became secretary of the Academy of Sciences. In sympathy with the French Revolution, he was elected to represent Paris in the Legislative Assembly (1791–92), where he called for a republic. His opposition to the arrest of the moderate Girondins led to his being outlawed (1792). While in hiding he wrote his famous Sketch for a Historical Picture of the Progress of the Human Mind, in which he advanced the idea of the continuous progress of the human race to an ultimate perfection. He was captured and subsequently found dead in prison.
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