Simon de la Loubère
Simon de la Loubère (21 April 1642 – 26 March 1729)[1] was a French diplomat to Siam (Thailand), writer, mathematician and poet. He is credited with bringing back a document which introduced Europe to Indian astronomy, the "Siamese method" of making magic squares, as well as one of the earliest description of parachutes.
Mission to Siam[]
Simon de la Loubère led an embassy to Siam (modern Thailand) in 1687 (the "La Loubère-Céberet mission").[2]:2 The embassy, composed of five warships, arrived in Bangkok in October 1687 and was received by Ok-khun Chamnan. La Loubère returned to France on board the Gaillard on 3 January 1688, accompanied by the Jesuit Guy Tachard, and a Siamese embassy led by Ok-khun Chamnan.[2]:3
Upon his return, La Loubère wrote a description of his travels, as had been requested by Louis XIV, published under the title Du Royaume de Siam: "It was by the orders, which I had the honours to receive from the King upon leaving for my voyage to Siam, that I observed in that country, as exactly as possible, all that appeared to be the most singular.[3]
Loubère also brought back with him an obscure manuscript relating to the astronomical traditions of Siam, which he passed on to the famous French-Italian astronomer Jean Dominique Cassini. The Siamese Manuscript, as it is now called, intrigued Cassini enough so that he spent a couple years deciphering its cryptic contents, determining on the way that the document originated in India.[4] His explication of the manuscript appeared in La Loubere's book on the Kingdom of Siam in 1691,[5]:64–65 which laid the first foundation of European scholarship on Indian astronomy.[6]
French career[]
La Loubère was elected member of the Académie française (1693–1729), where he received Seat 16, following the 1691 publication of his book Du Royaume de Siam.[2]:59
La Loubère was a friend of the German scientist Gottfried Leibniz, and once wrote that he had "no greater joy than (to discuss) philosophy and mathematics" with him (22 January 1681 correspondence).[3]
Magic square[]
La Loubère brought to France from his Siamese travels a very simple method for creating n-odd magic squares, known as the "Siamese method" or the "La Loubère method",[7][8][9] which apparently was initially brought from Surat, India, by another Frenchman by the surname of Vincent, who was sailing on the return ship with La Loubère.[5]:238
Siamese parachute[]
La Loubère is also famous for making one of the earliest account of a parachute following his embassy to Siam. He reported in his 1691 book that a man would jump from a high place with two large umbrellas to entertain the king of Siam, landing into trees, rooftops, and sometimes rivers.[5]:47–48[10]
Works[]
- Du Royaume de Siam, 1691 Full text in French or English translation
- Traité de l'origine des jeux floraux de Toulouse (1715)
- De la Résolution des équations, ou de l'Extraction de leurs racines, 1732 Full text
See also[]
- France-Thailand relations
References[]
- ^ BNF 12101988k
- ^ Jump up to: a b c Tachard, Guy (1999). Smithies, Michael (ed.). A Siamese Embassy Lost in Africa, 1686: The Odyssey of Ok-khun Chamnan. Bangkok: Silkworm Books. ISBN 9747100959. Retrieved 15 October 2017.
- ^ Jump up to: a b de la Loubere, Simon (2003). Ames, Glenn J; Love, Ronald S (eds.). Distant Lands and Diverse Cultures: The French Experience in Asia, 1600-1700. Westport CT: Praeger. ISBN 0313308640. Retrieved 15 October 2017.
- ^ Burgess, James (1893). "Notes on Hindu Astronomy and the History of Our Knowledge of It". Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain & Ireland: 722–723.
- ^ Jump up to: a b c de La Loubère, Simon (1693). A New Historical Relation of the Kingdom of Siam. Translated by A.P. Retrieved 16 October 2017.
- ^ Hands, Joseph (1879). New Views of Matter, Life, Motion, and Resistance. E.W. Allen. p. 466.
- ^ Eves, Howard W.; Johnson, Phillip E. (1972). Mathematical Circles Squared. Boston: Prindle, Weber & Schmidt. pp. 22. ISBN 0-87150-154-6. OCLC 448077.
- ^ Weisstein, Eric W. (12 December 2002). CRC Concise Encyclopedia of Mathematics. CRC Press. p. 1839. ISBN 978-1-4200-3522-3.
- ^ Pickover, Clifford A. (2002). The Zen of Magic Squares, Circles, and Stars: An Exhibition of Surprising Structures Across Dimensions. Princeton University Press. p. 38. ISBN 978-0-691-07041-4.
- ^ Bull, Stephen (2004). Encyclopedia of Military Technology and Innovation. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 200. ISBN 978-1-57356-557-8.
- 1642 births
- 1729 deaths
- Ambassadors of France to the Ayutthaya Kingdom
- Members of the Académie Française
- Magic squares
- 18th-century French mathematicians
- Members of the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres
- 17th-century French diplomats