c. 1325-1382

French mathematician who developed an early type of coordinate geometry and discussed Earth's rotation. In Questiones super libros Aristotelis de anima (c. 1370), Oresme addressed Aristotle's ideas concerning the earth's motion. Aristotle had claimed that the planet is stationary, but Oresme—before he went back on his first position, the correct one—initially stated that a daily rotation would be both feasible and explainable in physical terms. Questiones also examines the speed and reflective qualities of light. In about 1375 Oresme wrote a work on ballistics.