1736-1813, French mathematician and astronomer

He was born in Italy. He was director of mathematics 1766-87 at the Berlin Academy of Sciences. In 1793, after moving to Paris, he became chairman of the French commission on weights and measures and was influential in the adoption of the decimal system as the basis for the metric system.

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Source: http://www.maths.tcd.ie/pub/HistMath/People/Lagrange/RouseBall/RB_Lagrange.html Last Updated 04.27.03