„L’Expérience est le bâton que la nature a donné à nous autres aveugles, pour nous conduire dans nos recherches.“
— Émilie Du Châtelet, Institutions de physique

Today we celebrated the 319th birthday of Émilie Du Châtelet. This afternoon, we had the pleasure of diving into the experimental foundations of her Institutions de physique during the online event “Du Châtelet’s Eclectic Laboratory.” Our sincere thanks go to Ruth E. Hagengruber and Pierpaolo Betti for organizing the event, as well as to Pierpaolo Betti, Clara Carus, and Christian Henkel for their inspiring contributions.

In honor of Émilie Du Châtelet, we had already realized a special digital project in 2022 on the occasion of her 316th birthday: a YouTube video featuring readings from the Institutions de physique. The video presents her major work in the languages in which it was published during her lifetime—French, Italian, and German—complemented by an English reading version performed by the team of the Center for the History of Women Philosophers and Scientists.

Interested? Watch the whole video here: