A French mathematician, considered the inventor of descriptive geometry. He was born in Beaune and attended schools in Beaune and Lyon, and the military school of Mezieres.

At 16 he was appointed professor of physics at Lyon, a position he held until 1765. Three years later he was professor of mathematics and in 1771 physics teacher at Mézières. He helped to found the Ecole Polytechnique in 1794, where he taught geometry for over ten years. His general theory of the curvature of geometric surfaces established the basis for much of the later work of German mathematician Carl Friedrich Gauss in this field.

Monge, delivered the ruling of Betancourt's Mémoire sur une machine à vapeur à double effet (Report on a double-effect steam engine) in which they applauded the zeal and the lights of Betancourt.

Betancourt, as soon as he created the School of Roads and Canals, undertook the task to have translated into Spanish several French texts of great value, starting with the Geometría Descriptiva of Gaspard Monge.