Herigone, Pierre

1. Dates

Born: apparently in France; date unknown

Died: France, c. 1643

Dateinfo: Flourished (two dates give known period)

Lifespan: N/A

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: Unknown

6. Scientific Disciplines

Primary: Mathematics

His only published work of any consequence is the Cursus mathematicus, a six-volume compendium of elementary and intermediate mathematics in French and Latin.

7. Means of Support

Primary: Schoolmastering

Secondary: Government

He spent most of his life in Paris as a teacher of mathematics. He also served on a number of official committees dealing with mathematical subjects, notably the one appointed by Richelieu in 1634 for determining longitude from the moon's motion.

8. Patronage

Type: Government Official

This is the only reasonable interpretation of his membership on those committees.

9. Technological Involvement

Type: Navigation

His work on the longitude committee.

10. Scientific Societies

Memberships: None

He was no doubt a full member of the community of French mathematicians of the first half of the seventeenth century.

With the other members of his committee for determining longitude from the moon's motion, Etienne Pascal, Mydorge, Beaugrand, J.C. Boulenger, and L. de la Parte, he became embroiled in the ensuing controversy with Morin.

Sources

1. B. Boncompagni's article in Bullettino di bibliografia e di storia delle sceinze matematiche e fisiche, 2 (1869), pp. 472- 6. QA871.M466.
2. P. Tannery's article in Mémoires scientifiques, 10, (Paris, 1930), 287-9. Q113.T16. Poggendorf, 1, 1076-7.
3. Not in Nouvelle biographie générale or Dictionnaire de biographie française.
4. There is very little known about Herigone.

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.