Rene Descartes

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Rene Descartes was born in France where he grew up and and received a degree in law. After earning his law degree he decided to join the military and was located in Germany where he met Isaac Beeckman. He then leaves the military life to explore concepts him and Beeckman had invented, but he had little success in these endeavors. It wasn’t till November 10th 1619 that inspiration came to him to create a complete and methodical science. He traveled the world meeting other men known for their ideas and concepts. His reputation grew as a man of knowledge, but he wrote nothing until he settled in Holland away from any distractions. His first book was about to be published when Galileo was condemned by the church, Descartes wisely withdrew his work from being printed. He published Discourse on Method anonymously, it broke ground in the fields of optics, Meteorology, and Geometry. The first part of his book studied reflection and refraction intensively. “PHYSICS (Optics: Speed of Light) In La Dioptrique, one of three appendixes to Discours de la methode (1637--supplemental), René Desca...

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