Rene Descartes
March 31 1596- February 11 1650
Early Years and Mathematical Training
- Born March 31, 1596 in La Haye en Touraine, France
- His mother died when he was one year old
- Was introduced to mathematics and physics in 1607 at the Jesuit College Royal Henry-Le-Grand
- After graduating in December 1616, he studied at the University of Poitiers earning a degree and license in law to please his father
- Wanted to become a professional military officer so in 1618 he joined the Army of Breda under the command of Maurice of Nassau in the Dutch Republic
- Undertook a formal study of military engineering and received much encouragement to advance his knowledge of mathematics
- He believed it was necessary to create a method that linked mathematics and physics
Accomplishments and Later Years
- His contribution to mathematics was the Cartesian coordinate system (allowing reference to a point in space as numbers, and allowing algebraic equations to be expressed as geometric shapes in a two-dimensional coordinate system)
- He is known as the father of analytical geometry
- His findings were crucial to the discovery of calculus and analysis
- He was also a prominent figure in the scientific revolution
- He is best known for the philosophical statement "I think, therefore I am."
- Died on February 11, 1650 in Sweden as a guest at the house of the French ambassador (he had been invited by the Queen of Sweden to tutor her)
- Died of pneumonia