Voltaire FRS: His career as a scientist

Abstract Voltaire is remembered as one of the leading thinkers of the European Enlightenment, often quoted today for his views on free speech and religious toleration. In his lifetime he also enjoyed a reputation as a scientific thinker. His Éléments de la philosophie de Newton , published in 1738, did much to further understanding of Isaac Newton in Europe and led to Voltaire’s election as a Fellow of the Royal Society. He even tried his hand at experimental research and briefly entertained an ambition to become the Permanent Secretary of the French Académie des sciences. The plan came to nothing, but Voltaire’s presentation and promotion of Newtonian physics was enormously influential and has continued to this day to influence our understanding of Enlightenment scientific thinking.