Rene Descartes

March 31, 1596- February 11,

1650

Project for Ms. Wiltshire’s Class.

Descartes’ Beginnings• He was born in La

Haye (now Descartes), Touraine, France.

• He was educated at the Jesuit college of La Fleche in Anjou. He entered the college at the age of eight. He studied the classics, logic, philosophy, and mathematics.

Always a Student• School made Descartes

understand how little he knew; the only subject was good at in his eyes was math.

• Descartes then studied in Paris at the University of Poitiers, where he received a degree in law.

• In 1616 he enlisted in the military school at Breda.

• In 1618 he started studying math and mechanics under the Dutch scientist Isaac Beeckman.

• After two years in studying in Holland he traveled through Europe, then joined the Bavarian army.

Traveling Europe• From 1620 to 1628

Descartes traveled around Europe, keeping in contact with the scientific world.

• By 1628 he grew tired of traveling and decided to settle down.

Settling Down• Descartes chose Holland as his home.

Here he settled down and began to write on a variety of scientific subjects. These subjects ranged from Geometry to Philosophy to Optics to Astronomy and Meteorology.

Descartes’ major works

• La Dioptrique– a work on Optics

• Les Meteores– an important first work that scientifically studies the weather.

• La Geometrie– a very important contribution relating Geometry and Algebra.

• Meditations on First Philosophy– a work philosophers and theologians.

• Principia Philosophiae– an attempt to put the whole universe on a mathematical foundation.

All good things must end

• In 1644 Descartes was persuaded by Queen Christina of Sweden to move to Stockholm.

• She required Descartes to awake at 5am.

• Between being used to rising at 11am and the cold climate, he soon became ill and died of pneumonia.

Descartes’ effect on your education

• Descartes developed the method we use to graph points and equations

(see the Cartesian Plane at left).

• Descartes found a way to do ‘coordinate proofs’.

Rene Descartes

The End

Bibliography• Biographical information from:

http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/Mathematicians/Descartes.html

• Clip art of Rene Descartes from:

http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/Mathematicians/Descartes.html

• Cartesian plane from: http://www.shodor.org/interactivate/discussions/fd2.html