Gaspard Monge - 1789 and After

1789 and After

Unsurprisingly the French Revolution completely changed the course of Monge's career. He was a strong supporter of the Revolution, and in 1792, on the creation by the Legislative Assembly of an executive council, Monge accepted the office of Minister of the Marine, and held this office from 10 August 1792 to 10 April 1793, when he resigned. When the Committee of Public Safety made an appeal to the academics to assist in the defence of the republic, he applied himself wholly to these operations, and distinguished himself by his energy, writing the Description de l'art de fabriquer les canons and Avis aux ouvriers en fer sur la fabrication de l'acier.

He took a very active part in the measures for the establishment of the Ecole Normale (which existed only during the first four months of the year 1795), and of the school for public works, afterwards the École Polytechnique, and was at each of them professor for descriptive geometry. Géométrie descriptive. Leçons données aux écoles normales was published in 1799 from transcriptions of his letures given in 1795. He later published Application de l'analyse à la géométrie, which enlarged on the lectures.

From May 1796 to October 1797 Monge was in Italy with C.L. Berthollet and some artists to select the paintings and sculptures being levied from the Italians. While there he became friendly with of Napoleon Bonaparte. Upon his return to France, he as appointed as the Director of the École Polytechnique, but early in 1798 he was sent to Italy on a mission that ended in the establishment, of the short-lived Roman Republic.

From there Monge joined Napoleon's expedition to Egypt, taking part with Berthollet and in the scientific work of the Institut d'Égypte and Egyptian Institute of Sciences and Arts. They accompanied Bonaparte to Syria, and returned with him in 1798 to France. Monge was appointed president of the Egyptian commission, and he resumed his connection with the École Polytechnique. His later mathematical papers are published (1794 — 1816) in the Journal and the Correspondence of the École Polytechnique. On the formation of the Sénat conservateur he was appointed a member of that body, with an ample provision and the title of count of Pelusium (Comte de Péluse), and he became the Senate conservateur's president during 1806 - 07. Then on the fall of Napoleon he had all of his honours taken away, and he even excluded from the list of members of the reconstituted Institute.

Monge died at Paris on July 28, 1818, and his remains were interred in a mausoleum in the Le Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris. His remains was later transferred to the Panthéon in Paris.

A statue portraying him was erected in Beaune in 1849. Monge's name is one of the 72 names inscribed on the base of the Eiffel Tower.