French mathematician and philosopher (born 1596)

René Descartes

René Descartes was a French philosopher, scientist, logician, and mathematician, widely considered a seminal figure in the emergence of modern philosophy and science during the Renaissance era. Mathematics was paramount to his method of inquiry, and he connected the previously separate fields of geometry and algebra into analytic geometry.

Born

1596

March 31

Died

1650

Era

1590s

Country

France

About

René, in brief

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Life timeline

Key dates

1596 Born
1650 Died

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What else happened on this day, through history

307 After divorcing his wife Minervina, Constantine marries Fausta, daughter of the retired Roman emperor Maximian.
1146 Bernard of Clairvaux preaches his famous sermon in a field at Vézelay, urging the necessity of a Second Crusade. Louis VII is present, and joins the Crusade.
1174 A conspiracy against Saladin, aiming to restore the Fatimid Caliphate, is revealed in Cairo, involving senior figures of the former Fatimid regime and the poet Umara al-Yamani. Modern historians doubt the extent and danger of the conspiracy reported in official sources, but its ringleaders will be publicly executed over the following weeks.
1272 Pope Gregory X calls for a General Church Council to discuss reunion of Churches, Crusade to the Holy Land and Church reform.

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Same-year contemporaries

Also born in 1596

Maximilian 1596– Prince of Dietrichstein (died 1655)

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