Hardy, Claude

1. Dates

Born: LeMans, c. 1598 (DBF puts it in 1604)

Died: Paris, 5 Apr. 1678

Dateinfo: Birth Uncertain

Lifespan: 80

2. Father

Occupation: Government Official

Sebastian Hardy (who has his own entry in DBF) was receiver of taxes in LeMans at the time Hardy was born, and later a financier and counsellor of the audit office in Paris.

No explicit word on the family's financial status.

3. Nationality

Birth: French

Career: French

Death: French

4. Education

Schooling: No University

5. Religion

Affiliation: Unknown

6. Scientific Disciplines

Primary: Mathematics

Hardy exposed the fallacy of Yvon's method for the duplication of the cube in his Examen of 1630 and again in his Refutation of 1638.

Hardy owed his greatest fame to his knowledge of Arabic and other exotic languages, and in particular to his edition of Euclid' Data (1625). He is said to have occupied himself with a project for a universal langauge.

7. Means of Support

Primary: Law, Government

Little is known about his life. In 1625 he was a lawyer attached to the Parlement of Paris and in 1626 a counselor to the Chatelet (the court of justice in Paris).

8. Patronage

Type: None

9. Technological Involvement

Types: None

10. Scientific Societies

Memberships: None

He took part in the weekly meetings of Académie Mersenne, and he knew Gassendi.

He was a friend of Claude Mydorge, who introduced him to Descartes. Later, in the debate over Fermat's method of maxima and minima, he supported Descartes.

Sources

1. Nouvelle biographie générale, 23, 370-1.
2. Dictionnaire de biographie française, 17, 645.
3. G. Loria, Storia delle mathematiche, 2, (Milan, 1931), 309.

Not Available and Not Consulted

1. P.Colomies, Gallia orientalis, (The Hague, 1665), pp.165-166, 259-60.
2. C.de Waard, ed., Correspondence du M. Mersenne, (Paris), 1, 187, 619, 666; 2, 116, 550, 551; 3, 230; 4, 322, 323; 5, 136; 7, 63, 288-92; 8, 417, 418. MS4705.M53A3.

Compiled by:

Richard S. Westfall

Department of History and Philosophy of Science

Indiana University

Note: the creators of the Galileo Project and this catalogue cannot answer email on geneological questions.