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Louis Costaz

French mathematician (1767–1842)

Correspondence, annotated notebooks and portrait silhouettes prepared for research
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Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionJun 29, 2026
Entity authorityQ3261598
Source-derived summary

Louis, baron Costaz (17 March 1767, in Champagne-en-Valromey (Bugey – 15 February 1842, in Paris) was a French scientist and administrator.

His brother Benoît Costaz (1761–1842) was bishop of Nancy. After studying mathematics, he taught at the military school at Thiron until 1793, then at the École polytechnique. A member of the Commission des Sciences et des Arts, he participated in the French invasion of Egypt, becoming secretary to the Institut d'Égypte and a member of the Privy Council of Egypt, as well as accompanying Bonaparte to Suez.

On his return to France, he presided over the Tribunat (1801–1803) and was entrusted with organising a school of arts and crafts. Prefect of the Manche area (1804–1809) and a baron de l'Empire from 1809, he was intendant of crown buildings (1809–1813) before becoming director general of bridges and roads (1813–1814). Summoned to the Conseil d’État in 1813, he was made prefect of Nord (as extraordinary commissaire) during the Hundred Days and retired from public life shortly afterwards.

Editorial summary

Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Louis Costaz” is french mathematician (1767–1842). The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Louis, Costaz and French, not as a finished interpretation.

Editorial reviewA productive starting point for separating a subject’s documented career from later reputation and commemoration. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1767, 1842, 1761, 1793—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1767-03-17. For this dossier, Louis, Costaz and French is the immediate research focus.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The phrase “french mathematician (1767–1842)” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.

Evidence profile

Biographical claims are most persuasive when dates, appointments and relationships can be traced to records created close to the events described. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jun 29, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q3261598. VIAF identifies the subject as 14869656. The Library of Congress control number is n85312019. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1767, 1842, 1761 and 1793.

Critical limits

A concise life account rarely captures disputed attribution, private networks or the changing language used to describe a career. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.

Best used for
  • Establishing names and roles
  • Building a first chronology
  • Locating cited institutions
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Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Louis Costaz”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Louis Costaz primary sources, Louis Costaz archive and Louis research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Louis Costaz”?
  2. How has the subject’s reputation changed across later accounts?
  3. Which primary records establish identity, chronology and institutional ties?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Louis Costaz” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.