In the history of mathematics, Alexis Fontaine des Bertins is one of the names that keeps returning.
The record lists Alexis Fontaine des Bertins as French mathematician (1704-1771).
Alexis Fontaine des Bertins was born at Claveyson in 1704. His recorded nationality is France.
This was the age of analysis, when the calculus was pushed hard and its foundations were not yet secure.
Mathematical work is judged by whether anyone can build on it, and that judgement takes decades.
That the work was done from France matters: mathematical training, institutions and the language of publication have never been evenly distributed.
Alexis Fontaine des Bertins died in 1771, aged 67. The proofs remain, and a proof does not decay - which is the particular permanence mathematics offers.
