Fermat

Fermat, Pierre de (1601-1665), a great French mathematician, was born near Montauban. Studies made in his youth with Pascal upon the properties of numbers led to his working out a calculation of probabilities. He also studied the theory of numbers, discovered a new way of squaring the parabola, and did much towards advancing geometrical science. He was also of considerable linguistic attainments, and had a controversy with Descartes upon geometry and optics.