Descartes (31 March 1596 – 11 February 1650) was a French philosopher, mathematician, and physicist.
As a philosopher, he proposed "dualism" as well as rationalism, European rationalism and materialism as one of the founders. Propose "I think, therefore I am".
As a mathematician, in 1637 he invented the coordinate system, the basic tool of modern mathematics, combining geometry and algebra to create analytic geometry. Geometric formulas such as Cartesian's theorem were derived. The foundation was laid for Newton's invention of calculus. And proposed the "heart equation".
As a physicist, he applied coordinate geometry to optical research, and for the first time made theoretical deductions on the law of refraction in "Refractive Optics", for the first time expressed the law of inertia in a relatively complete way, and for the first time explicitly proposed the law of conservation of momentum. It laid the foundation for Newton's three laws and the study of optics.
The legends and facts of Descartes
1. Folk Descartes
In 1648, at the age of 52, Descartes was destitute and sat on the side of the road studying mathematics. Kristen, an 18-year-old Swedish princess, passed by the side of the road in a luxury carriage and "looked at you more in the crowd". The goddess-like princess gazed from the crowd at Descartes' wind-blown clothes in the fallen dust, as if seeing the beauty of a focused soul. The princess told the coachman to stop the carriage and walked quietly over, silently observing as she passed, and she found Descartes studying mathematics. Christine, who has been well educated by tutors in various subjects since childhood, also has an unusual talent in mathematics. She took the initiative to talk to Descartes about mathematics. They both found that the other was a rare confidant of their own life, and when they left, they left each other's addresses.
The princess went back to tell the king that she had finally found a teacher who was proficient in mathematics and philosophy. A few days later, Descartes received a notification that the king had made him the princess's math teacher, and Descartes was finally out of poverty. In the years that followed, the two men, 34 years apart, fell in love very much, almost a gender-switching version of a Cinderella story. Finally, the king discovers their secret and plots to quietly execute Descartes.
A few days before Descartes died, struggling in his hospital bed, he gave up his rest and was still trying to deduce mathematical formulas. Finally, he sent the last love letter to the princess and slowly closed his eyes. When the princess opens the love letter, there is only one formula: r=a(1-sinθ).
It was a love letter that only the princess could understand at her mathematical level, and the letter contained an equation of mathematical coordinates with which a "heartline" could be drawn. The tears of the Swedish princess Christine soaked the letter paper, and suddenly a drop of blood dripped onto the heart, the camera stopped, and began to play a symphony of love and destiny, and the audience did not know whether the blood came from Christine's eyes or Descartes' sincere heart.
2. Descartes of historical facts
Descartes was born into a French aristocratic family, and although he was only a small aristocratic family, he received a good education from an early age. Growing up, he achieved outstanding achievements in the fields of philosophy, mathematics and physics, and had a high reputation in Europe. Before the Swedish princess met Descartes, her king father had died and the princess had become queen. She read Descartes' books and admired her talent, so she called him to be her philosophy teacher. In the age of monarchy, scientists were only instruments of service before the monarchy.
The Queen is not only young, but also a hard-working workaholic. She got up very early every morning, freshened up and ate early, and began to study philosophy at five o'clock. And Descartes's habit has always been to study late at night, sleep late and get up late. But as the king's governess, he had to cooperate with the king's schedule and get up early every day to teach the king a lesson. Sweden was much colder than France, and Descartes had been unable to adapt to Sweden's cold climate and soon fell ill. As Queen of Sweden, she was still more religious in traditional Christian doctrine and was not particularly fond of Descartes' rationalist philosophy and skeptical ideas. Physically, Descartes did not receive sympathy from the Queen; mentally, Descartes did not get the understanding either. Not long after the toss, in February 1650, Descartes died of illness in Stockholm, the capital of Sweden.
For some reason, many of the giants of science in the 17th century chose not to marry, and like Spinoza, Newton, and Leibniz, Descartes never married. He had an illegitimate daughter who died prematurely, regretting his lifelong regrets. Folk are always dominated by emotions, and scientific rationality is ultimately the thinking psychology of a small number of people. Descartes, the founder of rationalism, also became part of folk fairy tales.
Descartes' famous quote:
1) In the world, common sense is the most equitable.
2. Read good books, such as superb communication with outstanding people.
3) The existence of everything is doubtful, and the only thing I can be sure of is the existence of my own thoughts.
4) It is not enough to have excellent intelligence, what is important is how to use intelligence well.
5, respect others, in order to make people respect.
6, the more you study, the more you find your own ignorance.
7. The search for truth should be the cause of one's life.
8) The main cause of fear is surprise, and the best way to get rid of it is to think beforehand and prepare yourself for all unforeseen events (surprise is caused by fear of them).
9, I think, so I am.
10 If a person is dominated by emotions, he has no autonomy in behavior and will be slaughtered by fate.
11 Only by obeying reason can we become human beings.
12 Doubt is the ancestor of reason.