Voltaire was exiled to Great Britain in an attempt to avoid life imprisonment for his response to an insult by Chevalier de Rohan. However, if Voltaire had not been exiled to Great Britain, he would not have met his future lover. A physicist, mathematician and author, Émilie du Châtelet. It is possible that du Châtelet and Voltaire met in their childhoods at one of her father’s salons. However, Voltaire himself dates their meeting to 1729, right about when he returned from his exile in London. Émilie states that their friendship began in May 1733. Émilie du Châtelet invited Voltaire to live with her in her country home in northeastern France, and became her loving companion. They shared a passion for science and had many scientific collaborations. They had even set up a laboratory in du Châtelet’s home.
Émilie du Châtelet was the only daughter of six children. She was a French mathematician, physicist and author during the Age of Enlightenment. Her mother did not approve of having an intelligent daughter but her father encouraged Émilie’s intellectual curiosity. Émilie du Châtelet died in 1749, at the age of 42, from a pulmonary embolism.