René Descartes (1596–1650)
Born 1596 CE, died 1650 CE.
René Descartes ( day-KART, also DAY-kart; French: [ʁəne dekaʁt] ; 31 March 1596 – 11 February 1650) was a French polymath, active across philosophy, including metaphysics, epistemology, ethics, and the philosophy of science; theology; mathematics, in which he connected the previously separate fields of geometry and algebra into analytic geometry; science, including physics, optics, mechanics, cosmology, and meteorology; physiology; and medicine. He has been credited as the father of modern philosophy, particularly due to his transformation of methodology by introducing a systematic, method-based approach to pursuing knowledge. Refusing to accept the authority of previous philosophers, Descartes frequently set his views apart from the philosophers who preceded him.
Text from the Wikipedia article René_Descartes, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.