What was Pierre Simon laplace's childhood?

Answer 1

He was very short, his weight was very low, and his voice was quite high. His parents ...

Mme. and Msr. de LaPlace ... being quite inexperienced in the business of parenting, were

beside themselves with worry over this seemingly insurmountable combination of handicaps.

Coupled, as his condition was, with his inability to do almost anything productive ... math,

chemistry, physics, bricklaying, wood-chopping, water-hauling, etc. ... his parents were

firmly convinced and resigned to the tragic conclusion that short, light, squeeky Pierre Simon

would never amount to anything, and would have to be institutionalized and cared for in

perpetuity.

They were in the process of making plans for the trip to perpetuity, to get him registered

and settled in there, when a cousin happened to drop by for a visit, and gave them a

piece of news that changed their lives, not to mention the life of little Pierre. This cousin

was schooled in the ways of the Scientific Method, and had dedicated his life to scientifically

and methodically observing everything around him, and in so doing to discover patterns,

systems, and the ways of nature and of the world.

This old, worldly, and wise cousin was the first to draw their attention to the vast numbers

of other short, light, squeeky people living in their village ... short people who could do

no more of value than little Pierre could, and who spent their days running aimlessly in

the streets, terrorizing the animals, dirtying their clothing, shouting at each other, throwing

stones and sticks about, and generally driving their parents to regret the whole thing.

The cousin showed them that little Pierre's condition, while seemingly hopeless, was

actually universal, and would change with time.

To make a long story brief, the truth set little Pierre's parents free, and they became totally

transformed. Where time had previously been their enemy ... where every second felt

like an hour and every day seemed a year ... their boy now became their greatest joy.

While there was still nothing they could do to cure the state of dehydration that had

inspired his name, Pierre now inspired them to create even more short, light, squeeky

people, and they did so as often as was humanly possible.

Their domain was magically transformed, from one of time to one of frequency, and little

Pierre, the dehydrated French child, grew to become a longer, heavier, famous great

basso mathematician.