Charles Marie de La Condamine
An Enlightenment adventurer who braved the Amazon to settle a scientific debate about the shape of the Earth.
1701–1774 (age 73)·French explorer, geographer and mathematician·Birthday: January 28
Biography
Charles Marie de La Condamine was a figure straight out of an Enlightenment romance: a mathematician with a thirst for adventure. In 1735, he joined a daring French Academy of Sciences expedition to the Equator, aiming to measure the curvature of the Earth and settle the heated debate between Newton and Cassini over whether our planet was a squashed or elongated sphere. For ten grueling years in the Andes and Amazon basin, he battled disease, treacherous terrain, and internal squabbles to take precise astronomical measurements. His results helped confirm Newton's theory of an oblate Earth. His subsequent solo journey down the Amazon River was a feat of sheer endurance and observation, resulting in the first broadly accurate map of the river basin. Returning to Paris, he became a celebrity scientist, promoting inoculation against smallpox and contributing to Diderot's Encyclopédie. La Condamine turned a geometric puzzle into a grand, perilous quest, blending rigorous science with the spirit of a explorer.
#1 When Charles Was Born
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Charles's Life & Times
The world at every milestone
1701Born
1706Started school
1714Became a teenager
1717Could drive
1719Could vote
1722Turned 21
1731Turned 30
1741Turned 40
1751Turned 50
1761Turned 60
1771Turned 70
1774Died at 73
Key Achievements
- Co-led the French Geodesic Mission to Ecuador, whose measurements confirmed the Earth's oblate spheroid shape.
- Completed the first scientific survey and mapping of the Amazon River, traveling its length by canoe.
- Was an early and influential advocate in Europe for smallpox inoculation.
- Contributed scientific articles to Denis Diderot's groundbreaking Encyclopédie.
Did You Know?
He brought the first samples of rubber from the Amazon to Europe, introducing the substance to science.
La Condamine also returned with the poison curare, which he demonstrated on animals in Paris.
He became almost completely deaf in later life but remained an active and social figure in Parisian salons.
His name is one of the 72 inscribed on the Eiffel Tower.
“I have verified with my own eyes the flattening of the Earth at the poles.”
