Alembert

a-lon-ber', Jean d', written also D'Alembert (1717-1783), a noted French scholar. He was a native of Paris. His mother, a court beauty, but an unmarried woman of fashion and lax morals, left him when a babe on the steps of a church. He was found by the police and given to a glasscutter's wife. When he became famous, his real mother made herself known; but Alembert repulsed her with the words, "I know but one mother, the glazier's wife." Alembert wrote the mathematical articles, the introduction, and many biographical sketches for the famous French encyclopedia. In 1722 he was made secretary of the French Academy. He represented the views of Voltaire and his friends. Among investigations of popular interest conducted by Alembert are those which relate to the theory of winds and the precession of the equinoxes.