Person: Mersenne, Marin
Marin Mersenne was a French monk who is best known for his role as a clearing house for correspondence between eminent philosophers and scientists and for his work in number theory.
Mathematical Profile (Excerpt):
- So, despite their financial situation, Marin's parents sent him to the Collège du Mans where he took grammar classes.
- It turns out that Descartes, who was eight years younger than Mersenne, was enrolled at the same school although they are not thought to have become friends until much later.
- Mersenne, however, was devoted to study, which he loved, and, showing that he was ready for responsibilities of the world, had decided to further his education in Paris.
- This experience so inspired Mersenne that he agreed to join their Order if one day he decided to lead a monastic life.
- They wore a habit made of coarse black wool with broad sleeves and girded by a thin black cord (as seen in the portraits of Mersenne).
- Mersenne entered the Order on 16 July 1611, and was ordained a priest in Paris in July 1612 after a two and a half month probationary period in the monasteries at Nigeon and Meaux.
- After two years teaching Mersenne was elected superior of the Place Royale monastery in Paris where he remained, except for brief journeys, until his death in 1648.
- It was because of this publication that, in September 1624 when he returned to Paris, he met Gassendi who had been asked to comment on Mersenne's results, and later became his closest friend.
- It was during this time that Mersenne started to think about the theological criticism directed against Descartes and Galileo.
- But Mersenne started his career in a rather different way.
- In the early 1620s, Mersenne was known in Paris primarily as a writer on religious topics, and a staunch defender of Aristotle against attacks by those who would replace him by a new philosophy.
- In the early 1620s, Mersenne listed Galileo among the innovators in natural philosophy whose views should be rejected.
- However, by the early 1630s, less than a decade later, Mersenne had become one of Galileo's most ardent supporters.
- Mersenne was beginning to realise that alongside religion it was science that really interested him.
- It was around this time that Mersenne started to become a coordinator for all European scholars.
- This came to be known as the Académie Parisiensis and sometimes among friends as the Académie Mersenne.
- It was notably one of most resourceful centres of research at that time, meeting weekly at members' houses and later in Mersenne's cell due to his weakened health.
- The list of Mersenne's correspondents kept increasing and Mersenne himself did not hesitate to travel to meetings with scholars all around Europe.
- Mersenne had a strong interest in music and spent a lot of time researching acoustics and the speed of sound.
- Mersenne had already started encouraging the talents of others and helped them to share their ideas and results with other scholars.
- When Roberval arrived in Paris, after joining Mersenne's circle of scholars, his talent was soon recognised by Mersenne who encouraged him to work on the cycloid.
- The period between 1627 and 1634 was a transitional period in Mersenne's life.
- In October 1644 Mersenne travelled to Provence and Italy where he learnt of the barometer experiment from Torricelli.
- Throughout his lifetime Mersenne helped many potential scientists by steering them in the right direction and advising some on the next step to take.
- He became a role model for Huygens whom Mersenne took under his wing and through his encouraging letters inspired Huygens' Theory of Music.
- Huygens had intended to move to Paris in 1646 to be near Mersenne in order to enable them to contact each other more easily, however Huygens did not move until several years after Mersenne had died so they never met.
- Galileo also has to be grateful to Mersenne for making his work known outside Italy.
- Mersenne insisted on publishing Galileo's work and without this Galileo's ideas might never have become as widely known.
- Continuing his travels into his old age, in 1646 Mersenne set off on a trip to Bordeaux.
- The success of the scientific life over in Bordeaux and Guyenne, which later formed the Académie Royale des Sciences, was largely due to the advice and experience Mersenne was able to offer.
- Mersenne fell ill after his visit to see Descartes in July 1648 and, unfortunately, his health never improved.
- Mersenne himself pointed out that the incision, which he asked for, had been attempted too low.
- Gassendi was there for Mersenne throughout his illness and remained with him until his death on 1 September 1648 in Paris, just 8 days from his 60th birthday.
- After Mersenne's death, letters in his cell were found from 78 different correspondents including Fermat, Huygens, Pell, Galileo and Torricelli.
- Also several physics instruments were found in his cell and a lot of Mersenne's library was retrieved from which "L'optique et la catoptrique" Ⓣ(Optics and catoptrics) was published in 1651.
- Mersenne was aware of all the science that was going on, what all the scientists were doing, and only wanted for them all to work together in advancing science.
- Mersenne studied the cycloid for several years quoting his research in "Quaestiones in Genesim" Ⓣ(Questions on Genesis) (1623), "Synopsis mathematica" Ⓣ(Mathematical summary) (1626) and "Questions inouyes" Ⓣ(Unbelievable questions) (1634).
- We note that Mersenne referred to the cycloid as the 'roulette' but the term cycloid was adopted later.
- Mersenne's name is best remembered today for Mersenne primes.
- Mersenne undertook experiments to test Galileo's law of motion for falling bodies.
- Mersenne thought Galileo's assumption that a falling body passes through infinite degrees of speed was incompatible with a genuinely mechanistic explanation of acceleration.
- In some of his non-mathematical works Mersenne looks at permutations and combinations.
- During the final four years of his life, Mersenne spent a lot of time investigating the barometer.
- Mersenne was doubtful that the air pressure actually supported the mercury and on his return attempted to re-do the experiment but did not have the necessary equipment.
- Certainly Mersenne had briefed both Huygens and Le Tenneur but it was not until three weeks after Mersenne's death in 1648 that these experiments were carried out.
- An interesting question is how Mersenne managed to pursue his scientific ideas freely at a time when the Church (of which he was a devoted member) moved to prevent such discussion.
- However, the attitude of Mersenne, who was both a faithful member of a religious order and a central figure in the development of French science, does not support such a conclusion.
- An examination of Mersenne's reaction to Copernicanism indicates that no matter how disturbing the Church's decision, it was still possible, at least in France, to study Copernican ideas and to find them useful, despite some reservations.
- Mersenne was affected by such decisions of the Church, but less so than one might suppose.
Born 8 September 1588, Oizé, Maine, France. Died 1 September 1648, Paris, France.
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Tags relevant for this person:
Number Theory, Special Numbers And Numerals
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Thank you to the contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0! 
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- non-Github:
- @J-J-O'Connor
- @E-F-Robertson
- @Jessica-Daniell
References
Adapted from other CC BY-SA 4.0 Sources:
- O’Connor, John J; Robertson, Edmund F: MacTutor History of Mathematics Archive
