Augustin Louis Baron Cauchy (∗August 21, 1789, in Paris, France; †May 23, 1857, in Sceaux, France) was a mathematician and physicist who made pioneering discoveries in mathematical analysis and the theory of elasticity.
Education
After 1799 when Napoleon Bonaparte came to power, his father Louis-Francois Cauchy became Secretary-General of the Senate, working directly under Pierre-Simon Laplace (who is better known for his contributions to mathematical physics). In addition, the mathematician Joseph-Louis Lagrange was also a friend of the Cauchy family. So on Lagrange’s advice, 1802 the young Cauchy entered the École Centrale du Panthéon, the best secondary school of Paris at that time. He was an excellent student and chose an engineering career preparing himself for the entrance examination to the École Polytechnique. In 1805, he placed second out of 293 applicants on this exam, and he was admitted. The program of this school included high-level scientific and mathematical education...
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Altenbach, H. (2018). Cauchy, Augustin Louis. In: Altenbach, H., Öchsner, A. (eds) Encyclopedia of Continuum Mechanics. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-53605-6_126-1
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