Clairaut, Alexis Claude

Related Category: Mathematics: Biographies

(älĕksĕs´ klōd klĕrō´), 1713–65, French mathematician. He assisted P. L. M. de Maupertuis in measuring (1736) a degree of an arc of a meridian in Lapland. He is noted for his work on differential equations and on curves and for formulating Clairaut's theorem dealing with geodesic lines on the surface of an ellipsoid.