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Bernard Le Bovier, sieur de
Fontenelle
(11 Feb 1657 - 9 Jan 1757)
Bernard Le Bovier, sieur de
Fontenelle, French scientist
and author, whose Conversations
on the Plurality of Worlds (1686), was
one of the first works to present science for the lay reader.
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“To what purpose should People
become fond of the Mathematicks and Natural
Philosophy? ... People very readily call Useless what they do not
understand. It is a sort of Revenge..."
One would think at first that if the Mathematicks were to be confin'd to what is useful in them, they ought only to be improv'd in those things which have an immediate and sensible Affinity with Arts, and the rest ought to be neglected as a Vain Theory. But this would be a very wrong Notion. As for Instance, the Art of Navigation hath a necessary Connection with Astronomy, and Astronomy can never be too much improv'd for the Benefit of Navigation. Astronomy cannot be without Optics by reason of Perspective Glasses: and both, as all parts of the Mathematicks are grounded upon Geometry ... .
One would think at first that if the Mathematicks were to be confin'd to what is useful in them, they ought only to be improv'd in those things which have an immediate and sensible Affinity with Arts, and the rest ought to be neglected as a Vain Theory. But this would be a very wrong Notion. As for Instance, the Art of Navigation hath a necessary Connection with Astronomy, and Astronomy can never be too much improv'd for the Benefit of Navigation. Astronomy cannot be without Optics by reason of Perspective Glasses: and both, as all parts of the Mathematicks are grounded upon Geometry ... .
— Bernard Le Bovier, sieur de
Fontenelle
Of the Usefulness of
Mathematical Learning (1699)
