Émilie du Châtelet

Enlightenment genius who laid foundations for Einstein's energy-mass equivalence

Gabrielle Émilie Le Tonnelier de Breteuil, Marquise du Châtelet (1706-1749) made groundbreaking contributions to physics decades before women gained entry to scientific academies. Her French translation and commentary on Newton's Principia Mathematica remains the standard French version today.

Du Châtelet's masterwork contained crucial insights about energy conservation, proposing that energy (vis viva) depends on mass times velocity squared (E∝mv²) - a precursor to Einstein's E=mc². She experimentally validated this through innovative ball-drop experiments from her laboratory at Château de Cirey.

Defying social norms, she collaborated with Voltaire while maintaining an independent scientific career. Her Foundations of Physics (1740) synthesized Newtonian mechanics with Leibnizian metaphysics, influencing later Enlightenment thinkers.

The only woman featured in the Encyclopedia of Physics' historical section until 1960, du Châtelet proved women could contribute to theoretical physics despite systemic exclusion.