David Bodanis drives the day with his story of Emilie du Chatelet and Voltaire. Her life, talents, spirit, drive and innovations are nearly astounding particularly held against the norms of the era. Little told stories of incredible women are hard to find for obvious reasons. I cannot recommend this book more assuredly for fact, read, and insight.

Most interesting indeed.

The story of Emilie du Châtelet, as recounted in Passionate Minds, is a profound exploration of brilliance, ambition, and the relentless struggle against societal constraints. While often overshadowed by her famous consort, Voltaire, Emilie's life and achievements shine brightly in this narrative, showcasing her as far more than a footnote in history.

Emilie was a philosopher, mathematician, and physicist—a pioneer whose work, particularly her translation and commentary on Newton's Principia Mathematica, remains a cornerstone of science. The author skillfully brings to life her intellectual triumphs and the challenges she faced as a woman in the male-dominated spheres of science and academia. However, the narrative is as much about Emilie's triumphs as it is about her humanity—her vulnerabilities, inadequacies, desires, and her struggles to reconcile her intellect with the limitations imposed by her era.

Her relationship with Voltaire, despite marked by betrayals and illicit intimacy, remained a union of minds and souls, enduring until the end. It's a beautifully narrated story.

Fascinating, reads like a novel. Excellent way for me to finish out Women's History Month.

Well, with that title it had better be good, I say! An engaging read about a woman born in the wrong century: her brilliance is matched only by a handful of mathematicians and scientists in her day, yet at times she worked in secret so as not to feed the insecurities of her lover Voltaire. Their long and complex relationship reads at times like a romance novel, at times like high adventure. In turn they lust after each other, inspire each other, compete against each other, cheat on each other, revile each other, yet ultimately Voltaire stands by her when she suffers her cruelest disappointment.

While Voltaire is better known, du Châtelet is the heart of this story. Here's a woman who is Newton's translator, and dare I say his better because she goes beyond and clarifies his computations and adds her interpretations. Yet she succumbs to the woeful bumbling of medical care in the 18th century. Swordfights, book burnings, and high stakes gambling, yes, but these are not central to the story. What is central is the star that is du Châtelet's intellect and passion for life, and its all too brief nova in the sky of the early Enlightenment.

It's good, it's just also horrifying. The end, in which the genius in question dies of an infection sustained during childbirth, at age 42, has always been one of my nightmares, and the French culture of the time is not kind to women.

This review from 2020 says it well: the author, after spending his preface bemoaning biographers' focus on Emilie's love life over her scientific work, goes on to write a book that's much more about her love life than about her scientific work. Only a few hypotheses, experiments etc are gone into in detail, such as Emilie's idea of using a prism to cast a rainbow on the wall and then thermometers to measure the heat imparted by different wavelengths of light. The postscript then discusses that a lot of science was cut out from the first draft of the book. It's too bad, because this era of the amateur physicist -- where new discoveries were relatively easy to make given the equipment of the time -- was brief and interesting. Although I do like placing the context of various works within the emotional milieu of Emilie's life, I might have preferred a slightly different focus once the works arrived.

Nonetheless, a few excellent tidbits remain. Who knew that optimist, or optimiste, was originally used to describe scientists of a certain belief? And that Newton (and then du Chatelet) were working before the modern notion of "energy", with a lot of Emilie's breakthrough ideas being about "this certain quantity of force"?

Overall, this book was difficult to get into (because it's history); quite interesting in the middle (love affairs, gambling, France, science!), and then brutal at the very end. Overall I'm glad I read it, as I knew I would be.

A very comfortable read about Voltaire and his partner Emilie, a strong, wise woman living in France before the revolution. I dont go much on love stories but any romance novel fan will enjoy that facet of the writing. This book is also great for History buffs and francophiles and classical period fans.
The author provides further reading leads at the end. The grounds for that lead to writing the book make it so much more poignant.

This book was fascinating from start to finish. Nonstop corruption, everyone has a mistress, write a bad word about somebody and go to jail, brand new ideas, parties with interesting people and more. If you are a fan of Voltaire, read this book but know it will mention the good, bad and the ugly about him such as his ego, hypocrisy, hypochondria, desire for fame, not being as smart as Emilie, etc. To top it off, Emilie shines as the ultimate feminist who many men run from because of their shame at not being anywhere near her equal. A real page turner and glimpse into this era.

Another case where a brilliant female mind has been erased from history. I’d like to read more about all the fascinating characters we meet in this book. I would also like to learn more of her mathematical work, although it’s probably outside the scope of this story. Very informative notes are included at the end.

Narrative re-telling of Voltaire and Emilie du Chatelet’s famed love affair set against the backdrop of the inchoate Age of Enlightenment.

Lots of fun 16th century asides about love and sex and marriage and class. Less attention is paid to Voltaire’s life and works after Chatelet’s death (Candide, specifically).

It’s clear that Chatelet’s advancement of Newton had a more profound affect on life as we know it today than any poesy or prose Voltaire produced. And it’s clear that when Voltaire had a hard time dealing with Emilie’s genius for experimentation, despite her lack of inclusion in the greater scientific community, he responded as most men do. It’s sad he didn’t champion her like she him.

The real travesty for Chatelet was to be impregnated by a priggish poet of little talent after the age of 40. Ultimately, it’s what forced her to rush her work on Newton because she knew childbirth would kill her.

There are broader societal takeaways, but I’m too angry thinking about what more she could have done if she had not taken up with Saint-Lambert, but he did seem to make her happy.

Regardless of her early end, Chatelet’s work and her relationship with Voltaire was a crucial development in philosophy, literature, social sciences, and mathematics. They were the Jay and Bey of their world, and I’d encourage any history or science buff check it out.

What a great read! Emilie du Chatelet was a fascinating person, and I'd never really heard of her prior to picking up this book. The author's style is very engaging, and one really gets a sense of du Chatelet as a person with desires, and goals, and flaws. Even the endnotes are worth reading -- there's a load of asides and minor details.

More on 18th century French scientist/ philosopher Emilie du Chatelet, although this rollicking non-fiction tale focuses a bit more on Voltaire than on his friend and lover, & in any event, more on their relationship then on aspects of du Chatelet's life & work not contingent upon that relationship. I do love one episode related late in the book. After their carriage toppled over & while Voltaire & du Chatelet waited for their servants to return with help from the nearest town, they "placed cushions in the thick snow beside the road, got under their favorite furs, and then lay back beneath the stars." According to Voltaire's valet, "they discoursed--while shivering, I should point out--on the nature and paths of the stars, and on the destiny of so many immense globes spread in space. I believe that only the fact that they lacked a telescope kept them from being perfectly happy. Their spirit being lost in the depths of the heavens, they no longer saw their situation on the earth--or, if I might be exact, their situation on the snow and in the middle of so much ice."