Pierre Lemonnier (physicist)

For the footballer, see Pierre Lemonnier (footballer).

Pierre Lemonnier (French pronunciation: [pjɛʁ ləmɔnje]; aka Petro Lemonnier; 28 June 1675 in Saint-Sever – 27 November 1757 in Saint-Germain-en-Laye) was a French astronomer, a professor of Physics and Philosophy at the Collège d'Harcourt (University of Paris), and a member of the French Academy of Sciences.^[1][2][3]

Cartesian planetary vortices, Physica Particularis, 1754.

Lemonnier published the 6-volume Latin university textbook Cursus philosophicus ad scholarum usum accommodatus (Paris, 1750/1754) which consisted of the following volumes (generally consistent with the Ratio Studiorum):

• Volume 1 - Logica^[4]
• Volume 2 - Metaphysica^[5]
• Volume 3 - Physica Generalis^[6] including mechanics and geometry
• Volume 4 - Physica Particularis (Part I)^[7] including astronomy (Ptolemaic, Copernican, Tychonic), optics, chemistry, gravity, and Newtonian versus Cartesian dynamics
• Volume 5 - Physica Particularis (Part II)^[8] including fluid mechanics, human anatomy, magnetism, and miscellaneous subjects (earthquakes, electricity, botany, metallurgy, etc. ...)
• Volume 6 - Moralis^[9] including appendices on trigonometry and sundials

He was also the father of Pierre Charles Le Monnier and Louis-Guillaume Le Monnier.

See also

• Johann Baptiste Horvath
• Andreas Jaszlinszky
• Edmond Pourchot
• Philip of the Blessed Trinity
• Charles Morton