Jacques Rohault facts for kids
Jacques Rohault (born 1618 – died 1672) was a French thinker. He was a French philosopher, physicist, and mathematician. Rohault was a strong supporter of Cartesianism, which were the ideas of the famous philosopher René Descartes.
His Life and Work
Rohault was born in Amiens, France. His father was a rich wine merchant. Jacques grew up learning the common ideas of his time. He then studied in Paris. He became very interested in the new ideas of René Descartes. These ideas explained how the world worked.
Rohault helped make these new ideas popular. He gave famous lectures in Paris. These talks started in the 1650s. Many people came to listen, including other important thinkers. Rohault passed away in Paris on December 27, 1672.
His Important Book: Traité de physique
Rohault believed in the "mechanical philosophy." This idea said that the world works like a big machine. It is made of tiny, shaped parts. His most famous book was Traité de physique (Treatise on Physics). It was published in Paris in 1671.
This book became a very important textbook. Students used it for about 50 years. It was one of the first books to separate physics from other deep thoughts about life. The book also included ideas about gravitation from Christiaan Huygens. It even showed an experiment to explain gravity.
Experiments and Ideas
An English scientist named Samuel Clarke translated Rohault's book. Clarke added his own notes to it. These notes tried to update the book with the newer ideas of Isaac Newton. Even with these changes, Rohault's focus on experiments stayed popular.
Rohault's book also talked about a model of the eye that he had worked on. He used many different experiments in his work. Some of these were mentioned by Descartes. He also used two famous experiments by Blaise Pascal. Rohault also included ideas from doctors like William Harvey.
See also
In Spanish: Jacques Rohault para niños
