Person: Brianchon, Charles Julien

Charles-Julien Brianchon was a French mathematician who worked on projective geometry.

At the École Polytechnique in Paris, Brianchon studied under Monge.
In that paper Brianchon rediscovered Pascal's Magic Hexagon.
This result is often called Brianchon's Theorem and it is the result for which he is best known.
Brianchon graduated in 1808 as first in his class.
At around this time Brianchon graduated from the École Polytechnique and became a lieutenant in artillery in Napoleon's army.
Brianchon is said to have fought bravely in Napoleon's campaign in both Portugal and in Spain, but he was on the losing side for Napoleon's forces were defeated in both Spain and Portugal.
Not only was Brianchon a brave soldier, but he was also said to be a very able one.
Brianchon remained with Napoleon's troops through the next few years but, despite a fine military career, the hard army life affected his health.
Between 1816 and 1818 while he was seeking a teaching appointment Brianchon wrote a number of papers.
In these Brianchon proved several further important results in the projective study of conics.
However, Brianchon did less and less research into mathematics after his teaching appointment and he turned to other interests.
By 1823 Brianchon's interests were turning to teaching and to chemistry.

Born 19 December 1783, Sèvres, France. Died 29 April 1864, Versailles, France.

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O’Connor, John J; Robertson, Edmund F: MacTutor History of Mathematics Archive