Claude François Milliet Dechales (1621 – 28 March 1678) was a French

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priest and mathematician. He published a treatise on mathematics and a translation of the works of

Euclid Euclid (; grc-gre, Εὐκλείδης; BC) was an ancient Greek mathematician active as a geometer and logician. Considered the "father of geometry", he is chiefly known for the '' Elements'' treatise, which established the foundations of ...

, though of lesser quality than that of

Gilles Personne de Roberval Gilles Personne de Roberval (August 10, 1602 – October 27, 1675), French mathematician, was born at Roberval near Beauvais, France. His name was originally Gilles Personne or Gilles Personier, with Roberval the place of his birth. Biography L ...

Biography

Born in

Chambéry Chambéry (, , ; Arpitan: ''Chambèri'') is the prefecture of the Savoie department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of eastern France. The population of the commune of Chambéry was 58,917 as of 2019, while the population of the Chamb ...

, Savoy, Claude Dechales (De Challes) was the son of Hector Milliet de Challes (1568–1642), first president of Sovereign Senate of Savoy. He entered the Jesuits at the age of fifteen on 21 September 1636. He participated in the French Jesuit mission to the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University ...

and taught literature in the schools of his order for nine years. Back in France,

Louis XIV Louis XIV (Louis Dieudonné; 5 September 16381 September 1715), also known as Louis the Great () or the Sun King (), was List of French monarchs, King of France from 14 May 1643 until his death in 1715. His reign of 72 years and 110 days is the Li ...

had him appointed professor of

hydrography Hydrography is the branch of applied sciences which deals with the measurement and description of the physical features of oceans, seas, coastal areas, lakes and rivers, as well as with the prediction of their change over time, for the prima ...

in Marseille where he taught navigation and military engineering. He then moved to the Trinity College in

Lyon Lyon,, ; Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the third-largest city and second-largest metropolitan area of France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of ...

in 1674, where he simultaneously taught philosophy (4 years), mathematics (6 years) and theology (5 years). He published in Lyon his famous Cursus seu Mondus Matematicus. At the end of his life, Dechales taught mathematics in a college in Turin in Piedmont, where he died, on 28 March 1678.

Publications

* 1660–1672 :
Huict livres des Elemens d'Euclide rendus plus faciles par le R.P. Claude François Milliet Dechales, de la Compagnie de Jésus
' (B. Coral, Lyon). * 1674 : a second edition of Euclide, ''Elementorum Euclidis libri octo, ad faciliorem captum accommodati'' (Lyon, Anisson). * 1674 :
Cursus seu Mondus Matematicus
' Ex officina anissonina (Anisson). * 1677 : ''L'art de fortifier, de défendre et d'attaquer les places, suivant les méthodes françoises, hollandoises, italiennes et espagnoles'' (Paris), and ''L'art de naviger demontré par principes et confirmé par plusieurs observations tirées de l'experience'' (Paris). * 1682 : '
Traité du mouvement local et du ressort
dans lequel, leur nature, & leurs causes, sont curieusement recherchées, & ou les loix qu'ils observent dans l'acceleration & les pendules, & encore dans la percussion & la reflexion des corps, sont solidement establies'', à Lyon chez Anisson et Posuel. * 1685 : ''Euclide'' translated in English under the title ''The elements of Euclid explain'd, in a new, but most easie method : together with the use of every proposition through all parts of the mathematicks''.

References

Sources

* * *Nardi, Antonio, ''"An eccentric adherent of Galileo. The jesuit François Milliet Dechales between Galileo and Newton"'', Archives internationales d'histoire des sciences 49 (142), January 1999
Le scholasticon
by Jacob Schmutz. * Vincent Jullien
les Eléments de géométrie
de Gilles Personne de Roberval, {{DEFAULTSORT:Dechales, Claude French Jesuits French mathematicians 1621 births Jesuit scientists 1678 deaths