PERSONAL GALLERY:
Maupertuis
Alexis Clairaut
Réginald Outhier
Anders Celsius
Anders Hellant
The Planström daughters

Alexis Clairaut

Alexis Clairaut was born in 1713 and died in 1765. He worked as a mathematician during the expedition. He was a mathematical genius who already at the age of twelve had been called to visit the Academy of Sciences in Paris. Like the rest of the expedition members Clairaut also undertook practical chores though in the first place he was there to calculate the measurement results. In a study published in 1743, the Clairaut proposition postulates in a simple way the dependency of the geometrical flattening ratio on the relationship between the gravity and the centrifugal force. Later Clairaut made a mathematical prediction of the appearance of Halley's comet in 1759.