Simon de la Loubère
Du Royaume de Siam.
Illustration from the English edition (1693).
Simon de la Loubère (French: [simɔ̃ də la lubɛʁ]; 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 descriptions of parachutes.
Mission to Siam
[edit]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
[edit]
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
[edit]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
[edit]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
[edit]- Du Royaume de Siam, 1691: Full text in French (volume 1, volume 2) 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
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ BnF 12101988k
- ^ 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.
- ^ 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.
- ^ 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.
