Introducing Émilie du Châtelet

Who knew she would be a consultant detective in Murder at Cirey ...?

Welcome to my first blog on this site devoted to an extraordinary woman who was born into the illustrious Breteuil family in 1706. Murder at Cirey, the first Victor Constant investigation, begins on the very day when Émilie arrives at a former hunting lodge in the Champagne province to live with Voltaire. To her own surprise, her scientific knowledge will be of use to Victor.

Many years ago, I worked for the Marquis and Marquise de Breteuil at their beautiful ancestral home. One day I was admiring a portrait in the their private salon and I asked the marquise: ‘Who is the beautiful woman in that painting?’ The marquise explained that she was Émilie du Châtelet, a member of the Breteuil family, who was famous in her time as a mathematician and physicist. It turned out that Émilie was also notorious, for openly living and working with the even more notorious free-thinker, Voltaire.

I had read Voltaire’s work but I’d never read anything of Émilie’s and I was excited to find out more about her. Here is the present Marquis de Breteuil standing under that priceless portrait. In my next blog about Émilie I'll share more on her life and works.