1678-1719

French mathematician who helped start the field of combinatorial mathematics. He published an influential book in which he examined the mathematics behind games of chance and showed that this was a respectable field of inquiry for mathematicians. By so doing, he also helped advance the field of game theory. Montmort was almost unique in maintaining friendly relations with followers and friends of both Isaac Newton and Gottfried Leibniz, even at the height of the controversy surrounding their respective claims for having invented calculus.