Henrion, Denis

1. Dates

Born: France, c. 1580

Died: France, c. 1640 (this is the DBF year; DSB gives c. 1632)

Dateinfo: Both Dates Uncertain

Lifespan: 60

2. Father

Occupation: No Information

No information on financial status.

3. Nationality

Birth: French

Career: French

Death: French

4. Education

Schooling: No University

5. Religion

Affiliation: Calvinist (assumed)

6. Scientific Disciplines

Primary: Mathematics

His scientific activity was devoted mainly to private instruction and the translation into French of Latin mathematical texts. His first work, Mémoires mathematiques (1613), is a course in elementary mathematics for the use of the nobility. He translated Euclid's Elements and Data, and many other classical texts.

7. Means of Support

Primary: Engineering, Schoolmastering

He was an engineer in the army of prince of Orange before settling in Paris in 1607.

According to one source (DBF) he was a professor of mathematics in Paris. NBG says merely that he taught mathematics in Paris and that there were many young nobles in his classes. This sounds more like it; I suspect that DBF was using "professor" in a generic sense. If he had a university appointment, there would be records of it.

8. Patronage

Type: Aristrocrat

He was an engineer in the army of the prince of Orange. While this could be patronage, without more information I choose not to list it.

Those classes in mathematics for young aristocrats reek of patronage.

9. Technological Involvement

Types: Military Engineering, Instruments

He was greatly interested in mathematical instruments and wrote a couple of treatises on such topics.

10. Scientific Societies

Memberships: None

Sources

1. Nouvelle biographie générale, (Paris, 1857-66), 24, 169-70.
2. Dictionnaire de biographie française, 17, 963-4.

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.