Gabrielle Emilie Le Tonnelier de Breteuil, Marquise Du Chatelet (French pronunciation: [emili dy Satle] ( listen); 17 December 1706  - 10 September 1749) was a French natural philosopher, mathematician, physicist, and author during the early 1730s until her untimely death due to childbirth in 1749. Her most recognized achievement is her translation of and commentary on Isaac Newton's book Principia containing basic laws of physics. The translation, published posthumously in 1759, is still considered the standard French translation today. Her commentary includes a profound contribution to Newtonian mechanics--the postulate of an additional conservation law for total energy, of which kinetic energy of motion is one element.
Contribution to philosophy
In addition to producing famous translations of works by authors such as Bernard Mandeville and Isaac Newton, Du Chatelet wrote a number of significant philosophical essays, letters and books that were well known in her time.  Because of her well-known collaboration and romantic involvement with Voltaire, which spanned much of her adult life, for generations Du Chatelet has been known as mistress and collaborator to her much better known intellectual companion. Her accomplishments and achievements have often been subsumed under his, and as a result, even today she is often mentioned only within the context of Voltaire's life and work during the period of the early French Enlightenment.  Recently, however, professional philosophers and historians have transformed the reception of Du Chatelet. Historical evidence indicates that Du Chatelet's work had a very significant influence on the philosophical and scientific conversations of the 1730s and 1740s - in fact, she was famous and respected by the greatest thinkers of her time.  Du Chatelet corresponded with renowned mathematicians such as Johann II Bernoulli and Leonhard Euler, early developers of calculus. She was also tutored by Bernoulli's prodigy students, Pierre Louis Moreau de Maupertuis and Alexis Claude Clairaut. Frederick the Great of Prussia, who re-founded the Academy of Sciences in Berlin, was her great admirer, and corresponded with both Voltaire and Du Chatelet regularly. He introduced Du Chatelet to the Leibniz's philosophy by sending her the works of Christian Wolff, and Du Chatelet sent him a copy of her Institutions.  Her works were published and republished in Paris, London, and Amsterdam; they were translated into German and Italian; and, they were discussed in the most important scholarly journals of the era, including the Memoires des Trevoux, the Journal des Scavans, the Gottingische Zeitungen von gelehrten Sachen, and others. Perhaps most intriguingly, many of her ideas were represented in various sections of the Encyclopedie of Diderot and D'Alembert, and some of the articles in the Encyclopedie are a direct copy of her work (this is an active area of current academic research - the latest research can be found at Project Vox, a Duke University research initiative).

Q: What was her contribution to philosophy
A: Du Chatelet wrote a number of significant philosophical essays, letters and books

Q: When did she start writing about philosophy
A: significant influence on the philosophical and scientific conversations of the 1730s and 1740s -

Q: Can you tell me some things she wrote
A: translations of works by authors such as Bernard Mandeville and Isaac Newton,

Q: who did she look up to
A: Du Chatelet corresponded with renowned mathematicians such as Johann II Bernoulli and Leonhard Euler, early developers of calculus.
Did she contribute anything of importance
Perhaps most intriguingly, many of her ideas were represented in various sections of the Encyclopedie of Diderot and D'Alembert,
Perhaps most intriguingly, many of her ideas were represented in various sections of the Encyclopedie of Diderot and D'Alembert,