c. 1470-c. 1553

French Mathematician

French priest Charles de Bouelles, whose name is variously rendered as de Boville, Bovillus, Bovelles, and Bouvelles, was responsible for a number of contributions to mathematics. Most notable among these were his work on the quadrature, or squaring, of the circle, and his writings on perfect numbers. He also published the first book on geometry written in French, and conducted an early study of the cycloid, the shape generated by following a fixed point on the circumference of a circle that rolls along a straight line.

Little is known about Bouelles's early life, except that he came from an aristocratic family in the town of Saucourt, located in the Picardy region of France. He studied in Paris until about the age of 25, part of this time under the noted educator Jacques Lefèvre d'Etaples (c. 1455-1536), but left in 1495 after...