Voltaire, som var en av markis du Châtelets
älskare, skrev i ett brev till sin gode vän
Frederick II av Preussen, att du Châtelet var
"a great man whose only fault was
being a woman"
Gabrielle Émilie Le Tonnelier de Breteuil, markis du Châtelet
17 december 1706 – 10 september 1749
målning av Maurice Quentin de La Tour
Man tycks inte veta så värst mycket, med säkerhet, om denna matematiker och fysiker, men det finns gott spekulationer — och rätt mycket att läsa om henne.
"Judge me for my own merits, or lack of them, but do not look upon me as a mere appendage to this great general or that great scholar, this star that shines at the court of France or that famed author. I am in my own right a whole person, responsible to myself alone for all that I am, all that I say, all that I do. it may be that there are metaphysicians and philosophers whose learning is greater than mine, although I have not met them. Yet, they are but frail humans, too, and have their faults; so, when I add the sum total of my graces, I confess I am inferior to no one."
Mme du Châtelet to Frederick the Great of Prussia; The Divine Mistress, (Edwards, 1970, p. 1)
