1401-1464

German Mathematician and Philosopher

Nicholas of Cusa is a figure difficult to assess within the context of mathematics. Certainly he wrote extensively about the subject, in particular on the properties of circles, but it is primarily as a philosopher and mystic that he is remembered. On the one hand, he held firmly to mindsets associated with the medieval world, in particular with his belief that all knowledge has its roots in theology. On the other hand, he displayed an openness to new ideas more characteristic of the Renaissance and the modern age that lay beyond it.

Born Nicholas Krebs in the German town of Kues in 1401, Cusa studied law and mathematics at the University of Padua in Italy. He later received his doctorate in canon law before moving to Cologne in the 1420s. There he took an interest in the philosophical writings of...