Pierre Charles François Dupin (October 6, 1784 in
VarzyVarzy is a commune in the Nièvre department in central France.-Demographics:At the 1999 census, the population was 1303. On 1 January 2005, the estimate was 1359.-External links:* * * * *...
,
FranceFrance , officially the French Republic , is a country located in Western Europe, with several overseas islands and territories located on other continents. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean...
– January 18, 1873 in
ParisParis is the capital of France and the country's most populous city. It is situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
,
FranceFrance , officially the French Republic , is a country located in Western Europe, with several overseas islands and territories located on other continents. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean...
) was a French
CatholicThe word Catholic is derived from the Greek adjective , meaning "universal". In the context of Christian ecclesiology, it has a rich history and several usages. For some, the term "Catholic Church" refers to the church in full communion with the Bishop of Rome, made up of the Latin Rite and the 22...
mathematicianA mathematician is a person whose primary area of study and/or research is the field of mathematics. Mathematicians are concerned with particular problems related to logic, space, transformations, numbers and more general ideas which encompass these concepts...
.
He studied
geometryGeometry arose as the field of knowledge dealing with spatial relationships. Geometry was one of the two fields of pre-modern mathematics, the other being the study of numbers....
with
MongeGaspard Monge, Comte de Péluse , was the a French mathematician and inventor of descriptive geometry.-Biography:...
at the
École PolytechniqueThe École Polytechnique is the foremost French engineering school. Known for its extremely competitive entrance exam, it produces graduates that occupy outstanding positions in industry and research...
and then became a naval engineer. In 1819 he was appointed professor at the Conservatoire des Arts et Métiers; he kept this post until 1854. In 1822, he was elected a foreign member of the
Royal Swedish Academy of SciencesThe Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences or Kungliga Vetenskapsakademin is one of the Royal Academies of Sweden. The Academy is an independent, non-governmental scientific organization which acts to promote the sciences, primarily the natural sciences and mathematics.The Academy was founded on 2 June...
.
In 1826 he published a
thematic mapA thematic map is a simple map made to reflect a particular theme about a geographic area. Thematic maps can portray physical, social, political, cultural, economic, sociological, agricultural, or any other aspects of a city, state, region,nation , or continent.- Overview :A thematic map is...
showing the distribution of illiteracy in France, using shadings (from black to white), the first known instance of what is called a
choropleth mapA choropleth map A choropleth map A choropleth map (Greek χωρα + πληθαίν:, ("area/region" + "multiply") is a thematic map in which areas are shaded or patterned in proportion to the measurement of the statistical variable being displayed on the map, such as population density or per-capita...
today.
In addition, he had a political career and was appointed to the Senate in 1852.
Pierre Charles François Dupin (October 6, 1784 in
VarzyVarzy is a commune in the Nièvre department in central France.-Demographics:At the 1999 census, the population was 1303. On 1 January 2005, the estimate was 1359.-External links:* * * * *...
,
FranceFrance , officially the French Republic , is a country located in Western Europe, with several overseas islands and territories located on other continents. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean...
– January 18, 1873 in
ParisParis is the capital of France and the country's most populous city. It is situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
,
FranceFrance , officially the French Republic , is a country located in Western Europe, with several overseas islands and territories located on other continents. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean...
) was a French
CatholicThe word Catholic is derived from the Greek adjective , meaning "universal". In the context of Christian ecclesiology, it has a rich history and several usages. For some, the term "Catholic Church" refers to the church in full communion with the Bishop of Rome, made up of the Latin Rite and the 22...
mathematicianA mathematician is a person whose primary area of study and/or research is the field of mathematics. Mathematicians are concerned with particular problems related to logic, space, transformations, numbers and more general ideas which encompass these concepts...
.
He studied
geometryGeometry arose as the field of knowledge dealing with spatial relationships. Geometry was one of the two fields of pre-modern mathematics, the other being the study of numbers....
with
MongeGaspard Monge, Comte de Péluse , was the a French mathematician and inventor of descriptive geometry.-Biography:...
at the
École PolytechniqueThe École Polytechnique is the foremost French engineering school. Known for its extremely competitive entrance exam, it produces graduates that occupy outstanding positions in industry and research...
and then became a naval engineer. In 1819 he was appointed professor at the Conservatoire des Arts et Métiers; he kept this post until 1854. In 1822, he was elected a foreign member of the
Royal Swedish Academy of SciencesThe Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences or Kungliga Vetenskapsakademin is one of the Royal Academies of Sweden. The Academy is an independent, non-governmental scientific organization which acts to promote the sciences, primarily the natural sciences and mathematics.The Academy was founded on 2 June...
.
In 1826 he published a
thematic mapA thematic map is a simple map made to reflect a particular theme about a geographic area. Thematic maps can portray physical, social, political, cultural, economic, sociological, agricultural, or any other aspects of a city, state, region,nation , or continent.- Overview :A thematic map is...
showing the distribution of illiteracy in France, using shadings (from black to white), the first known instance of what is called a
choropleth mapA choropleth map A choropleth map A choropleth map (Greek χωρα + πληθαίν:, ("area/region" + "multiply") is a thematic map in which areas are shaded or patterned in proportion to the measurement of the statistical variable being displayed on the map, such as population density or per-capita...
today.
In addition, he had a political career and was appointed to the Senate in 1852. His mathematical work was in
descriptiveDescriptive geometry is the branch of geometry which allows the representation of three-dimensional objects in two dimensions, by using a specific set of procedures. The resulting techniques are important for engineering, architecture, design and in art...
and differential geometry. He was the discoverer of conjugate tangents to a point on a surface and of the
Dupin indicatrixThe Dupin indicatrix is a method for characterising the local shape of a surface. Draw a plane parallel to the tangent plane and a small distance away from it. Consider the intersection of the surface with this plane. The shape of the intersection is related to the Gaussian curvature. The Dupin...
.