LAPLACE PIERRE SIMON: (1749-1827) Marquis de Laplace. French Scholar and Scientist whose works ...

LAPLACE PIERRE SIMON: (1749-1827) Marquis de Laplace. French Scholar and Scientist whose works developed mathematics, physics and astronomy. Laplace formulated the equation named after him and was one of the first scientists to postulate the existence of black holes. His five volume work Celestial Mechanics has been a guide for many leading scientists. He is widely considered one of the greatest scientists of all time, and often referred to as the “French Newton”. A good D.S., ` C[om] te Laplace´, one page, oblong 4to, Paris, 24th December 1808, in French. The partially printed document, completed in Laplace´s hand, is a receipt confirming the payment Laplace gets obliged to pay a year after according to the decree aproved by the Emperor related to the nobility title granted to him, as Count, by the Emperor. The partially printed document states, with Laplace´s annotations in cursive, `Décret du 17 Mars 1808 - Le vingt-quatre Décembre mil huit cent neuf, je payerai à la grande Trésorerie de la Légion d´honneur la somme de Deux cent vingt francs... que je suis tenu de verser en exécution du statut Impérial du 1er Mars 1808, pour l´emploi qu´il prescrit, à cause du Majorat relatif au Titre de Comte que Sa Majesté Impériale et Royale a bien voulu me conférer. Pour le payement de la présente, j´élis domicile à Paris, à La Chancellerie du Sénat. Fait à Paris, le vingt quatre Décembre mil huit cent huit . Cte Laplace´ (Translation: "Decree of March 17, 1808 - On December twenty-four of the year one thousand eight hundred and nine, I will pay to the great Treasury of the Legion of Honor the sum of Two hundred and twenty francs... which I am required to pay in execution of the Imperial statute of March 1st 1808, for the employment it prescribes, because of the Majorat relating to the Title of Count that His Imperial and Royal Majesty was kind enough to confer on me. For the payment of this, I take up residence in Paris, at the Chancellery of the Senate. Done in Paris, December twenty-fourth, one thousand eight hundred and eight. Cte Laplace´. The document bears a revolutionary blind embossed seal to the front and a tax ink stamp to the verso, bearing also to the verso a three lines handwritten annotation signed by the responsible of the Legion d´honneur Treasury Dubois. Very small minor age wear, otherwise G to VG