CARNOT, LazAity. Nu•oft.vs li.tRGUERITE i 753- 1823) . A French strategist and mathe matician. lle was 1)411•11 at Nolay, and became. in 1791, a member of the Leccislative Assembly from Pas-de-Calais, In the Convention he voted fin' the death of Louis NV1. Ile was elected to the ('oniniittee of Public. Safety. intrusted with the chief direction of military affairs, and great ly contributed to the success of the French arms. Ile displayed extraordinary ability in this posi tion, alike as a strategist and as an organizer. Ile created fourteen placed them under the command of competent generals, and inspired the troups with an ardor which made them irre sistil)1P. Though lie endeavored to restrict time of 1:1.1.evierre„ he was M*1)441(.11441 with others. after the Reign of Terror, but the (-barge was dismissed. ('arnift became a member of the Ihrectory in 1795, but having, opposed the ex treme measures of Barras, his colleague, he was suspected of being a royalist and sentenced to deportation in 1797. Having escaped to Ger man•, he wrote his fatnims defense. in which he laid bare the &dia•eter of his associates in the Directory. The Eighteenth Brumaire brought him back to Paris, Bonaparte made him Alinis ter of War in 1800. hi this office he helped. by his energy, skill, and fertility of administrative resource, to achieve the brilliant results of the Italian and South-German campaigns; so that to him was given the name of 'Organizer of Vic tory.' Iteing unable to agree with Ilimaparte, he
resigned in flue snln• year. In 1802 he became a member of the tribunate, in which capacity he voted against the establishment of the consulate for life and pa rt ieularly aga inst in empire. When the tribunate was aladished, he retired to privale life and devoted himself to his studies. But when fortune ceased to favor Napoleon he placed his services at his command in 1814. The com mand of -\ntwerp was given to him, and the city was heroically defended. During the Hundred Days he held office as linister of the Interior. The title of Count was conferred upon him, but he never bore it. After the second restoration be withdrew to Warsaw, and from thence to Magdeburg, where he died, August 3, 1823. Car noCs chief contribution to mathematical science is a class of general theorems on the projectiVe ill'opertie: of figures, which later formed the basis for the important works of Poncelet others. Aiming his linInel'011s Writings on mathe matics and military tactics are Esmai mar les ma m en • gent'ral (1786); itelle.rions stir la niOapkysignv da mien! infinit fimintal (1797) ; and de position (ISM). Consult Arago, "Eulogy of Carnot,• in Vol. I. of Arago's tEurres eomplt'tes (Paris, 1854).