Le Tenneur, Jacques-Alexandre

1. Dates

Born: unknown

Died: after 1652

Dateinfo: Flourished (two dates give known period)

Lifespan: N/A

2. Father

Occupation: Aristocrat

A patrician family of Paris.

No information on financial status.

3. Nationality

Birth: French

Career: French

Death: French

4. Education

Schooling: No University

5. Religion

Affiliation: Unknown

6. Scientific Disciplines

Primary: Mathematics, Physics

His importance to the history of science depends on his De motu naturaliter accelerato (1640), in which he showed himself to be the only mathematical physicist of the time who understood precisely Galileo's reasoning in rejecting the proportionality of speeds in free fall to the distance traversed. Another book, Traité des quantitez incommensurables, which concerns the foundations of algebra, stood as a final attempt to preserve the classical Greek separation of arithmetic from geometry.

7. Means of Support

Primary: Government

Little is known of his life. Probably a resident of Paris until the mid-1640's, he was at Clermont-Ferrand (near Puy-de-Dome) late in 1646, and in 1651 he was counselor to a provincial senate (Guyenne).

8. Patronage

Type: None

9. Technological Involvement

Types: None

10. Scientific Societies

Memberships: None

He was a friend of Mersenne and a correspondent of Gassendi.

Sources

1. P. Tannery and C. De Waard, eds., Correspondence du P. Marin Mersenne, 9-11. (Most of the letters between the two men have not yet been published.) BX4705.M53A3 H. Brown, Scientific Organization in 17th century France, (New York, 1967), pp.54-56. Q127.F8B8 A. Koyré, Galileo Studies, 235-6.
2. Not in Nouvelle biographie générale.
3. There is just not a lot of information about Le Tenneur.

Compiled by:

Richard S. Westfall

Department of History and Philosophy of Science

Indiana University

Note: the creators of the Galileo Project and this catalogue cannot answer email on geneological questions.