René Descartes (Latinized Renatus Cartesius, adjectival form: Cartesian, ∗March 31st, 1596, La Haye en Touraine, France; †February 11th, 1650, Stockholm, Swedish Empire) was a French philosopher, mathematician, and scientist.
Education
In 1607, Descartes entered the Jesuit Collège Royal Henry-Le-Grand at La Flèche, where he got first knowledge in mathematics and physics and a classical education. After graduation in 1614, he studied until 1616 at the University of Poitiers. Within these 2 years, he obtained a baccalauréat and license in canon and civil law and should become a lawyer. After that he moved to Paris and passed several courses at the Parisian Académie.
Professional Career
To be a professional military officer in 1618, Descartes joined the Protestant Dutch States Army in Breda under the command of Maurice of Nassau and undertook a formal study of military engineering, as established by Simon Stevin. So he got excellent knowledge of mathematics. In this way, he became...
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Section Editor information
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2018 Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature
About this entry
Cite this entry
Altenbach, H. (2018). Descartes, René. In: Altenbach, H., Öchsner, A. (eds) Encyclopedia of Continuum Mechanics. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-53605-6_280-1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-53605-6_280-1
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-662-53605-6
Online ISBN: 978-3-662-53605-6
eBook Packages: Springer Reference EngineeringReference Module Computer Science and Engineering