Monge

Monge, Gaspard (1746-1818), French mathematician and natural philosopher, was born at Beaune, and educated at Beaune and Lyons. He taught in the military school at Mezieres, and, coming to Paris in 1780, lectured there upon hydrodynamics. In 1792 he became Minister of Marine and member of the executive, in which capacity he signed the warrant for Louis XVI.'s execution. Resigning his official position, he occupied himself with military improvements, and had a great share in founding the Ecole Polytechnique. In 1795 he was sent to Italy to select art treasures for transport to Paris. In 1798 he accompanied Napoleon, with whom he was in favour, to Egypt; but, on Napoleon's downfall in 1815, he was expelled from the Institute and lost his appointments. Among his many works are a Treatise on Statics, Geometric Descriptive, L'Art de fabriquer les Canons.