"At eighteen, Gabrielle Emilie le Tonnelier de Breteuil, Marquise Du Cht́elet (1706-1749) married a nobleman and proceeded to do what was expected of French noblewomen of her time: bear children, advance her husband's career, and display herself at Versailles. But in the course of her short life, Du Cht́elet would also conduct a fifteen-year liaison with the controversial (and lowborn) philosopher Voltaire, write her own philosophical works, and translate Newton's pioneering work the Principia."--Back cover.