As part of the Center for the History of Women Philosophers and Scientists’ Research Colloquium in the Winter Semester 2026/27, we are pleased to welcome Dr. Eszter Kovács (FCiências.ID, Lisbon, and Vrije Universiteit Brussel), who will present her talk entitled “The Dissertation on Fire by Émilie Du Châtelet in Light of Its Sources.”

Abstract: Du Châtelet’s Dissertation sur la nature et la propagation du feu, composed in 1737 for the 1738 prize competition of the Académie Royale des Sciences, published in a collective volume in 1739, republished by Du Châtelet in 1744, is often mentioned but rarely commented on for its content. It is most often referred to as the first scientific essay written by a woman to be published by the Académie. While this gender history point is correct, Du Châtelet’s actual ideas on fire tend to be overlooked. Notable exceptions are articles from Bernard Joly (2001) and Michael Veldman (2026). In my talk, I will focus on the way Du Châtelet presents ongoing debates on the nature of fire by comparing experiments and conclusions drawn from them. Among her major sources we find Homberg, Boyle, Boerhaave, and Musschenbroek. Newton’s Opticks and gravitation theory also influence her essay. The study of sources is, however, incomplete. For instance, Du Châtelet seems to more often follow Boerhaave than she explicitly names him. Boerhaave is probably her indirect source to reconsider earlier alchemical and vitalist sources, possibly Jean-Baptiste van Helmont. I will argue that Du Châtelet attempts to maintain results even when experiments and their implications contradict each other. I aim to show that, even if her theory on fire cannot be considered a pivotal moment in physical chemistry, her use of materialistic and theistic claims is original: fire is the Creator’s resource, but it is of material nature at the same time. She reconciles the experimental method with some more ancient ideas on fire as a vital principle (spiritus vitae) and the soul of the world (anima mundi).

About the speaker: Eszter Kovács is a postdoctoral researcher in the ERC project VERITRACE, which was hosted between 2023 and 2026 at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel, and is currently hosted at FCiências.ID, in Lisbon. Dr Kovács holds a joint PhD in French literature, obtained in 2008 from the University of Szeged (Hungary) and the École normale supérieure de Lyon. She also holds a PhD in philosophy, obtained in 2024, from Eötvös Loránd University (Budapest, Hungary). She specializes in Enlightenment thinkers Denis Diderot and Émilie Du Châtelet. Her research interests include early modern vitalism, with a focus on Anne Conway. After co-authoring an article entitled “The notion of fire in the Chaldean Oracles”, centred on the early modern reception of Neoplatonic and Stoic interpretations of fire as a universal agent, she re-examined Du Châtelet’s Dissertation sur la nature et la propagation du feu, which has led her to new insights in this work.

If you want to participate or simply listen to the talks, please contact: contact@historyofwomenphilosophers.org