What is Pierre-Simon Laplace?
{{Infobox scientist |name = Pierre-Simon, Marquis de Laplace |image = Pierre-Simon Laplace.jpg |caption = Pierre-Simon Laplace (1749–1827). Posthumous portrait by Madame Feytaud, 1842 |birth_date = 23 March 1749 |birth_place = [[Beaumont-en-Auge]], [[Normandy]], [[France]] |death_date = {{death date and age|df=yes|1827|3|5|1749|3|23}} |death_place = [[Paris]], [[France]] |nationality = {{flag|France}} |fields = [[Astronomer]] and [[Mathematician]] |workplaces = [[École Militaire]] (1769–1776) |alma_mater = [[University of Caen]] |doctoral_advisor = |academic_advisors = [[Jean d'Alembert]]<br>[[Christophe Gadbled]]<br>Pierre Le Canu |doctoral_students = [[Siméon Denis Poisson]] |notable_students = |known_for = Work in [[Celestial Mechanics]]<br/>[[Laplace's equation]]<br/>[[Laplace operator]]<br/>[[Laplace transform]]<br>[[Laplace distribution]]<br>[[Laplace's demon]]<br>[[Laplace expansion]]<br>[[Young–Laplace equation]]<br>[[Laplace number]]<br>[[Laplace limit]]<br>[[Laplace invariant]]<br>[[Laplace principle (large deviations theory)|Laplace principle]] |awards = |signature = Pierre-Simon Laplace signature.svg }} '''Pierre-Simon Laplace''' (23 March 1749 – 5 March 1827), later [[Marquis]] de Laplace, was a French [[mathematician]] and [[astronomer]]. His work helped to develop mathematical [[astronomy]] and [[statistics]]. His five volume ''Mécanique Céleste'' (Celestial Mechanics) (1799–1825) was a key work. In it, he changed the geometric study of [[classical mechanics]] to one based on [[calculus]], which meant it could tackle a wider range of problems. In statistics, the so-called [[Bayesian probability|Bayesian interpretation]] of probability was mainly developed by Laplace.<ref>Stephen M. Stigler 1986. ''The history of statistics''. Harvard University press. Chapter 3.</ref> He invented [[Laplace's equation]], and pioneered the [[Laplace transform]] which is used in many branches