1-158-442 - Oxford Science Archive/Heritage Images

Pierre-Louis Moreau de Maupertuis, French astronomer and mathematician, in Finland, 1736, (1874). In 1736 Maupertuis (1698-1759) led an expedition to Lapland to measure the length of a degree along the meridian. The expedition included the French mathematicians Alexis Claude Clairault (1713-1765) and Charles Etienne Louis Camus (1699-1768). They set up their headquarters at Torino in Northern Finland. In summer they were plagued by insects and in winter suffered from the cold. From Vies des Savants Illustres du XVIIIe Siecle by Louis Figuier. (Paris, 1874).