Samuel König

1712 (Büdingen, Germany) – 1757 (Zuilenstein, Netherlands)

König met his fellow-student Clairaut, as well as Maupertuis, through his studies with Johann Bernoulli (Daniel Bernoulli also taught him, as did Wolff); Clairaut became a correspondent and noted collaborator of König’s. Maupertuis introduced Voltaire and Châtelet to him, then had a famous mathematical quarrel with him, Euler putting the case against König, and Voltaire defending him in print. He travelled with his friends Voltaire and Châtelet to meet Réaumur, though Châtelet (to whom he taught algebra) later had a serious disagreement with him. Réaumur, also a friend, passed König a problem concerning the geometry of honeycombs.