Talk:Pierre-Simon Laplace

1. REDIRECT Template:Archives

celestial mechanics

Could we have more on his celestial mechanics? Charles Matthews 15:21, 22 Nov 2004 (UTC)

Express evidence that Laplace saw himself as an atheist, rather than a deist or agnostic. for example, should be supplied. It will be difficult to come by for anyone favored by the Restoration Bourbons, of course...

The famous anecdote about Napoleon and the Celestial Mechanics is not sufficient. Septentrionalis 15:35, 9 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Mass of Saturn

Can we see his calculation of the mass of Saturn?— Preceding unsigned comment added by 213.122.21.78 (talk) 11:31, 18 July 2006 (UTC)

revolution

What part did he play in reducing violence? None and that should be stated— Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.56.224.34 (talk) 17:18, 29 May 2021 (UTC)

Optics

Before the 1800, Laplace was the main reference with respect to optics. This article barely says anything about it aside from the black hole anecdotes. ReyHahn (talk) 12:25, 25 March 2024 (UTC)

Name

I changed the first sentence to

Pierre-Simon Laplace (Template:IPAc-en; ; 23 March 1749 – 5 March 1827; from 1808 Count, from 1817 Marquis de Laplace) was a French scholar ...

In the summary I gave the explanation

let us not overemphasize his nobility titles; in science he is universally known as Pierre-Simon Laplace

Now @User:Zacwill reverted without giving any reason. Why this unfriendly behavior, and why should we dilute the name of the great scientist with a ridiculous Marquis de awarded late in life to the opportunistic careerist? -- Dyspophyr (talk) 10:26, 9 November 2024 (UTC)

There was nothing wrong with the original formatting. You may consider titles of nobility "ridiculous", but this is an opinion rather than a fact. Zacwill (talk) 15:10, 9 November 2024 (UTC)

We do not write Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. mult. Werner Heisenberg either, though some in Germany consider doctoral degrees as part of the name. What are the rules here, quite generally? -- Dyspophyr (talk) 15:42, 9 November 2024 (UTC)

Thanks for opening this topic, exactly the right approach.

The rules are 1) what do the sources say and 2) what will editors agree too. Several sources in the article use "Marquis". No source is cited that disputes the title or its use. Consequently the evidence is that "Marquis" is part of the name by which this person is commonly known. Contrary to your claim, there is no evidence from a source that this was awarded for any other reason than to honor his work. For example "In 1816 he was admitted to the Académie Française and in 1817 he was raised to the rank of a Marquis."

If you have a source that says the "Marquis" was declined or ignored by Laplace or otherwise disputed, please post it for discussion. Johnjbarton (talk) 15:55, 9 November 2024 (UTC)

Good question, I am not sure how this is handled entirely but nobility titles are treated differently from academic titles. See Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Biography and WP:NCROY.--ReyHahn (talk) 21:56, 9 November 2024 (UTC)