Lazare Nicolas Marguerite Carnot
(Nolay 13 May 1753 - Magdeburg 2 August 1823)
Second son of Claude Carnot. Brother of Claude-Marie Carnot-Feulins. Father of Sadi
(physicist) and Hippolyte (statesman).
General, statesman and scholar. Knight of Saint-Louis. Grand Officer of the Legion
of Honor. Decorated with the Ordre du Lis. Member of the Institute. Comte de l’Empire
and Pair de France. Known as the Organizer of the Victory or the Grand Carnot.
By 1783, he was a Captain in the Royal Corps of Engineers, but was limited in his
military and marital ambitions due to his modest origins. Nevertheless, he joined
the French Revolution and went on to be elected Deputy of the Pas-de-Calais in the
Legislative Assembly, then in the Convention where he sat with the Deputies of the
Plaine. He later rejoined the Montagnards. As a member of the Committee of Public
Safety (July 1793), he was in charge of military affairs and created the fourteen
armies of the Republic. Sent on a mission with the Northern Army, which was led by
Jourdan, he contributed to the victory of Wattignies (16 October 1793). Socially
moderate, indeed even conservative, he took a stand against Robespierre, Couthon
and Saint-Just during the 8 and 9 Thermidor (26-27 July 1794). Member and President
of the Directory in 1795, he was removed from his position after the coup d'état
of the 18 Fructidor, Year V (4 September 1797). Recalled after the 18 Brumaire, Year
VIII (9 November 1799), he was named Minister of War by Bonaparte. He resigned in
1800, and became a member of the Tribunate. Hostile to the Consulate and the Empire
for the rest of his life, he retired from public life, dedicating himself to scientific
research until 1814. He then, in his function as Governor, participated in defending
Antwerp. Home Secretary during the Hundred-Days, he was banished for regicide in
1816 (Lazare voted for the death of Louis XVI and refused deferment of the sentence).
He died in exile in Magdeburg. His ashes were transferred to the Pantheon on August
4, 1889 during the seven-year presidency of his grandson, Sadi Carnot.
Lazare Carnot is also known for his scientific works. In his Essay on Machines in
General (Essai sur les machines en général), he developed in detail the laws of collisions
and set forth the law of energy conservation. With his Geometry of Position (Géométrie
de position) (1803), he emerges—at the same time as Monge—as one of the founders
of modern geometry.
