The BW Hotel Quartier Latin Panthéon overlooks the Place Monge. Many times our guests have asked about the origin of this name, and we delight in telling about one of the finest minds France has produced; Gaspard Monge, the brilliant mathematician and inventor of descriptive geometry.
The story of Gaspard Monge and his achievements
Gaspard Monge created the mathematical principles of representing 3D images on a 2D plane, the basis of what is known today as technical drawing. Thus he influenced the fields of engineering, architecture, art and design.
Monge was born in Beaune, in eastern France, in 1746. During his early career as a draftsman at the École Royale du Génie at Mézières, his manual skill in producing accurate drawings was valued highly, but his talent for mathematics was disregarded. This changed swiftly when he was asked to produce a plan of gun emplacements for a proposed fortress. He used the techniques he had developed in private to create the plans in far less time than it usually took and his genius became recognised by those in authority.
In later years, Monge was an ardent supporter of the French Revolution, becoming involved in educational reform and helping to found the Ecole Polytechnique. He became friends with Napoleon Bonaparte and joined the emperor’s expedition to Egypt. Sadly, he was shunned following Napoleon’s fall. Expelled from the French Academy and stripped of his honours, he died in 1818.
Today he is again held in high esteem. In addition to the Rue Monge and Place Monge being named in his honour, Gaspard Monge is also one of the 72 names of great French scientists, engineers and mathematicians engraved on the base of the Eiffel Tower. On December 12th, 1989, in a further acknowledgement of his legacy, his ashes were transferred to the Panthéon.
~oOo~
Picture copyright holder : Jebulon - wikimedia CC
Best Western Quartier Latin Panthéon Hotel, a 3 star hotel Paris