Jean-Baptiste-Marie Charles Meusnier de la Place (1754--1793): An historical note (Q1370068)

At the age of twenty-one Meusnier introduced osculating quadric surfaces to discuss the curvature of general surfaces. In addition to the theorem bearing his name, he introduced the second fundamental form, showed that minimal surfaces are characterized by vanishing mean curvature, and discovered that the right helicoid is a minimal surface. -- Brief biographical notes, description of work in aerostatics (balloons), useful references.