1591-1661

French Mathematician

The significance of Girard Desargues's work did not become apparent until long after his death; indeed, at the time of his passing in 1661, it would have been hard to imagine that anyone would remember him a generation later. His ideas about geometry broke with Euclidean tradition, and thereby aroused the criticism of no less a figure than his acquaintance René Descartes (1596-1650); yet Desargues is today recognized as a prophet of projective geometry nearly two centuries ahead of his time.

Desargues's father Girard, who with his wife Jeanne Croppet had nine children, served as a tithe collector in Lyon. In an era when the church still dominated political affairs, this was the equivalent of a tax collector; and as in the time of Christ, it appears that collectors of the church's tax fared well: the Desargues family owned several houses, a chateau, and...