Lhôpital, Guillaume Francois Antoine de

(also L’Hospital, Lhopital). Born 1661 in Paris; died there 1704. French mathematician.

L’Hôpital was the author of the first published textbook on the differential calculus (1696), which was based on lectures given by the Swiss scientist Johann Bernoulli. L’Hopital investigated a number of difficult problems in mathematical analysis and, in particular, gave a solution of the well-known brachistochrone problem.