Claude Hardy
Claude Hardy (* 1604 in Le Mans ; † April 5, 1678 in Paris ) was a French polymath , mathematician, linguist and lawyer.
Life
Hardy was one of seven children of the tax collector Sébastien Hardy, Lord of Estour and Tabaize. Soon after Hardy's birth, the family moved from Paris, which is where the parents originally came from. The father was there councilor (Conseiller) at the court. Little is known about Hardy's youth. In 1613 he published a translation of a Latin script by Erasmus of Rotterdam into French ( De la civilité morale des enfants ), which he created after the preface at the age of nine. Hardy possessed a remarkable ability to learn languages and is said to have mastered 36 languages. In 1614 he published a translation of Michel Verin's poems from Latin. In 1622 he married Perette Presche. From 1625 he worked as a lawyer at the Parliament of Paris.
He was also friends with scientists and mathematicians in Paris, including Claude Mydorge , through whom he met René Descartes , with whom he also became friends. Because of his talent for languages, he was often used by scholars for translations (for example from Arabic). In 1625 he published the Greek text of Euclid's Elements with a Latin translation and annotations by Marin Mersenne .
In 1630 there was a translation of François Viète's algebra from Latin into French by an Antoine Vasset, who is believed to be Hardy. In the same year Hardy published essays under his own name in which he presented and criticized attempts to solve the classic problem of doubling the cube.
In Paris, Hardy was a member of the scientific group around Marin Mersenne, where he also met Blaise Pascal . In 1637 he was involved in a dispute between Descartes and other mathematicians, when Descartes criticized the work of Pierre de Fermat on the calculus of variations (De maximis et minimis). Hardy sided with Descartes (on Fermat's side were, among others, Gilles Personne de Roberval and Étienne Pascal (1588-1651)).
Hardy also did chemical (alchemical) experiments with the Paris doctors Annibal Barlet and Pierre Borel.
Little is known about the last twenty-five years of his life (after the death of Descartes).
Web links
- John J. O'Connor, Edmund F. Robertson : Claude Hardy. In: MacTutor History of Mathematics archive .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Sometimes 1598 is given, sometimes 1604, which corresponds to Hardy's own statements in the prefaces of his first books and his marriage certificate from 1622.
- ↑ Michel Verin (1468–1487), Italian poet (GND 1185577092 ).
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Hardy, Claude |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | French mathematician, linguist and lawyer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 1604 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Le Mans |
| DATE OF DEATH | April 5, 1678 |
| Place of death | Paris |