(Rene Descartes)-mathematician

Years lived, Where they

• March 31 1596 –  February 11 1650 
• He was from La Haye in the south of France
• Why he became a mathematician
• As a child, school had made Descartes understand how little he knew; the only subject which was satisfactory, in his eyes, was mathematics. Only mathematics, Descartes felt, is certain, so 'all must be based on mathematics'. This idea became the foundation for his way of thinking, and was to form the basis for all his works.
• Hes early life

 He was one of a number of surviving children (two siblings and two half-siblings). His father was a lawyer and magistrate, which apparently left little time for family. Descartes's mother died in May of the year following his birth, and he, his full brother and sister, Pierre and Jeanne, were left to be raised by their grandmother in La Haye. At around ten years of age, in 1606, he was sent to the Jesuit college of La Fleche. He studied there until 1614, and in 1615 entered the University of Poitiers, where a year later he received his Baccalaureate and License  Canon & Civil Lawin.