ace Gaston Pardies (c. 1636-1673), a Jesuit, professor of ancient
languages and later of mathematics and physics at the College of Pau, and
afterwards professor of rhetoric at the College Louis-le-Grand at Paris. He
wrote on geometry, astronomy and physics.

[517] Pierre Fermat was born in 1608 (or possibly in 1595) near Toulouse,
and died in 1665. Although connected with the parliament of Toulouse, his
significant work was in mathematics. He was one of the world's geniuses in
the theory of numbers, and was one of the founders of the theory of
probabilities and of analytic geometry. After his death his son published
his edition of Diophantus (1670) and his _Varia opera mathematica_ (1679).

[518] This may be Christopher Townley (1603-1674) the antiquary, or his
nephew, Richard, who improved the micrometer already invented by Gascoigne.

[519] Adrien Auzout a native of Rouen, who died at Rome in 1691. He
invented a screw micrometer with movable threads (1666) and made many
improvements in astronomical instruments.

[520] See Vol. I, page 66, note 9 {86}.

[521] See Vol. I, page 124, note 7 {248}.

[522] John Machin (d. 1751) was professor of astronomy at Gresham College
(1713-1751) and secretary of the Royal Society. He translated Newton's
_Principia_ into English. His computation of [pi] to 100 places is given in
William Jones's _Synopsis palmariorum matheseos_ (1706).

[523] Pierre Remond de Montmort (1678-1719) was canon of Notre Dame until
his marriage. He was a gentleman of leisure and devoted himself to the
study of mathematics, especially of probabilities.

[524] Roger Cotes (1682-1716), first Plumian professor of astronomy and
physics at Cambridge, and editor of the second edition of Newton's
_Principia_. His posthumous _Harmonia Mensurarum_ (1722) contains "Cotes's
Theorem" on the binomial equation. Newton said of him, "If Mr. Cotes had
lived we had known something."

[525] See Vol. I, page 135, note 3 {281}.

[526] See Vol. I, page 377, note 4 {769}.

[527] Charles Rene Reyneau (1656-1728) was professor of mathematics at
Angers. His _Analyse demontree, ou Maniere de resoudre les problemes de
mathematiques_ (1708) was a successful attempt to popularize the theories
of men like Descartes, Newton, Leibnitz, and the Bernoullis.

[528] Brook Taylor (1685-1731), secretary of the Royal Society, and student
of mathematics and physics. His _Methodus incrementorum directa et inversa_
(1715) was the first trea