François Viète

1540 – 23 February 1603

François Viète (1540-1603) was a French mathematician and lawyer whose work on 'new algebra' introduced systematic symbolic notation, a decisive step toward modern algebra. A counselor to kings Henry III and Henry IV of France, he famously broke a complex Spanish cipher during the war with Spain. His In artem analyticem isagoge (1591) is a founding text of symbolic algebra.

Comparing
Compare

Lived at the same time

Well-documented people whose lives overlapped with François Viète.

Life events

Born in Fontenay-le-Comte, Poitou, France
1540

François Viète was born in Fontenay-le-Comte in western France, the son of a lawyer and notary.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
Birth ✓
Received a law degree from the University of Poitiers
1559

Viète studied law at Poitiers and began practicing as a lawyer in his home town.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
Education ✓
Became tutor to Catherine de Parthenay
1564

Viète entered the service of the Soubise family as private tutor to Catherine de Parthenay, teaching her science and mathematics and beginning a lifelong association.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
Career ✓
Appointed counselor to the Parlement of Brittany at Rennes
1573

Viète was named a counselor of the parlement at Rennes, beginning his career as a royal magistrate.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
Career ✓
Became royal privy counselor under King Henry III
1580

Viète was recruited to serve Henry III as a maître des requêtes and member of the king's privy council in Paris.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
Career ✓
Banished from court through the influence of political enemies
1584 – 1589

Viète was dismissed from court and spent several years in retirement, during which he devoted himself intensively to mathematics.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
Other ✓
Broke the Spanish cipher for King Henry IV
c. 1590

Viète deciphered intercepted Spanish diplomatic correspondence written in a complex cipher, giving the French crown a significant advantage in the war with Spain.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
Achievement ✓
Published In artem analyticem isagoge, founding symbolic algebra
1591

Viète's Introduction to the Analytic Art introduced the systematic use of letters for both known and unknown quantities, laying the foundation of modern algebraic notation.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
Achievement ✓
Died in Paris
23 February 1603

Viète died in Paris shortly after being released from royal service due to ill health.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
Death ✓