6. Did you know that Francois Viete was actually a non-professional French mathematician. He had a very brilliant legal career starting in his hometown Fontenay-le-Comte as the private lawyer of a noble family, and ended up as a personal counselor of King Henri III, and still he became one of the best mathematicians ever. This can show today’s people that no matter what you do in your life or what job or position you’re in, you can always have a hobby that might turn into great things.
7. Did you know that Viète's major contribution is his great treatment of algebraic equations. He initiated the systematic use of letters to represent both the coefficients and the unknowns: this was the beginning of a new type of algebra, expressed in terms of abstract formulas and general rules, instead of the geometric points of view. Today we are still using the same system that he came up with, and it helps us in many ways to quickly solve problems that involve math or algebra.
8. Did you know that in one of his treatises, De Numerosa Potestatum ad Exegesin Resolutione (1600), he presented techniques for the numerical computation of roots. He also wrote three minor works on angle sections and other constructions in plane geometry. Now a days people still use the same methods of geometry in modern architecture.
Meet the Leaders of Enlightment
Philippus Aureolus Theophrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim, better known as Paracelsus, was a Swiss Scientific Revolutioner. He challenged the ideas of Galen and burned his books when he became teacher. 1. Paracelsus is the first one to see the chemicals as medicine. This radical change is the cause of all the large amount of medicines we have in the present. Imagine how would be medicines without chemicals! We would be still using plants and strange herbs that may not be as effective as present medicines.
2. Paracelsus, also was the first one to see that poison kills people. “All things are poison and nothing is without poison, only the dose permits something not to be poisonous.” -Paracelsus. This means that everything in overdose will kill you. This has helped a lot in the present because not only we know that we need to avoid poison, but also we can use that poison as insecticides and rat poison to protect our house and gardens with those tools. Ironically, Paracelsus discovered poison by trying to heal people with Mercury, which resulted to be a tough poison that kills the human body. 3. Did you know that Andreas Vesalius was the first scientist to study the open human body, because before him, studies were made based on the assumption that pigs and rats had similar anatomy as the human body. Thanks to him, we now know a lot more about what and how are we made of.
4. Did you know that Vesalius had a very important role in promoting surgery, because previous scientists gave no importance to surgery and anatomy. He then designed drawings of the nervous and circulatory systems. Thanks to him, we now have reached a high level of Technology and surgery that has saved many lives.
5. Did you know that he studied science medicine in Paris, but never completed it because he was forced to leave due to the declaration of war from to Holy Roman Empire to France.
Did You Know? 5
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