Bernard Lamy (15 June 1640 – 29 January 1715) was a French Oratorian, mathematician and theologian.

Life

Lamy was born in Le Mans, France. After studying there, he went to join the Maison d'Institution in Paris, and to Saumur thereafter. In 1658 he entered the congregation of the Oratory. Lamy became professor of classics at Vendôme in 1661, and at Juilly in 1663. He was ordained in 1667. After teaching a few years at Le Mans he was appointed to a chair of philosophy in the University of Angers. Here his teaching was attacked on the ground that it was too exclusively Cartesian, and Rebous the rector obtained in 1675 from the state authorities a decree forbidding him to continue his lectures. He was then sent by his superiors to Grenoble, where, thanks to the protection of Étienne Le Camus, he again took up his courses of philosophy. In 1686 he returned to Paris, stopping at the seminary of Saint Magloire, and in 1689 he was sent to Rouen, where he spent the remainder of his days to his death in 1715.

Works

His best known work is the Traité de Mécanique (1679), showing the parallelogram of force. He also wrote Traité de la grandeur en general (1680) and Les éléments de géometrie (1685). His writings are numerous and varied. Among them may be mentioned: