[For International Women's Day]
It is an odd quirk of history that, whereas Marie Curie has been awarded the honours of the Pantheon, the body of the 18th-century's greatest female scientist, Émilie du Châtelet, lies under a completely anonymous black stone slab, in the nave of the parish church of Saint-Jacques in Lunéville. As the French has it, "elle est piétinée depuis 1749"; generations of worshippers and visitors have simply trampled over her grave as they enter the church.
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| Église Saint-Jacques, Lunéville |
An unmarked grave
Émilie du Châtelet died from the complications of childbirth at the Palace of Lunéville, on 10th September 1749. The whole Court turned out for the funeral which was conducted with much pomp, as befitted a member of one of the grand chevaux, the old aristocratic families of Lorraine. According to Gaston Maugras, King Stanislas personally insisted that the greatest honours be awarded to the mortal remains of the woman whose presence, for two years, had contributed so much to his pleasure. Madame du Châtelet's reputation for freethinking and immorality, and the presence of the arch-infidel Voltaire, made for a tense occasion. It is reported that, as the party traversed the salle des spectacles on its way from the Queen's apartments, the bier suddenly broke and upset the coffin. The Jesuit father Menoux did not neglect to observe that this was the exact spot where only a few weeks earlier, Émile had played centre-stage in a profane comedy.
Maugras La Cour de Lunéville au xviiie siecle (1904), p.463-4
https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k2057422/f473.item
https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k2057422/f473.item
