Rene Descartes |
1596-1650 |
René Descartes was born near Tours, France, on March 31, 1596. He died in Stockholm, Sweden on February 11, 1650. Descartes father was in parliament as a councillor. René was the second of three children; he had an older brother and a younger sister. He was educated at the Jesuit School at La Flêche. Descartes was quite ill as a child, so was allowed to spend the mornings in bed. It was during those times, lying in bed, Descartes would say were his most productive.
Descartes's chief contributions to mathematics were his analytical geometry and his theory of vortices, and it is on his researches in connection with the former of these subjects that his mathematical reputation rests.
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| René Descartes | A detailed biography of Descartes' life taken from "A Short Account of the History of Mathematics" (4th Edition, 1908) by W.W. Rouse Ball. |