Biography of Bernard Frénicle de Bessy - No

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Biography of Bernard Frénicle de Bessy
Dates of Birth and Death:
(∗) in 1605 in Paris, France
(†) 17 January 1675 in Paris, France
Family Data:
There is no information available about Frénicle’s family.
Education:
Evidently, Frénicle never received any University education, but studied
Mathematics all by himself.
Professional Career:
Frénicle de Bessy was a counsellor at the Cour de Monnaie in Paris.
He corresponded with Pierre de Fermat (1601-1665), René Descartes (15961650), Christiaan Huygens (1629-1695) and Marin de Mersenne (1588-1648),
mostly about problems involving number theory and applied mathematics.
He solved many of the problems stated by Fermat in number theory, so, for
example, Fermat’s problem of 1657. One of his favorite fields were magic
squares.
Important Publications:
• Divers ouvrages de mathemathique et de physique (1693; The Hague
1731).
• Solutio duorum problematum circa numeros cubos & quadratos...(Paris
1657).
• Traité des triangles rectangles en nombres, [dans lequel plusieurs belles
propritetez de ces Triangles sont démontrées par de nouveaux principes]
(Paris 1677).
• Table generale des quarrez de quatre (Paris 1693).
• Abregé des combinaisons (Paris 1693).
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• “Méthode pour trouver la solution des problèmes, par les exclusions
traité, des triangles rectangles en nombre abrégé des combinaisons...
Table... des quarrez magiques des quatre côtés”, in: Mémoires de
l’Académie Royale des Sciences t. 5 (1729).
• “Des quarrez ou tables magiques”, in: Mémoires de l’Académie Royale
des Sciences t. 5 (1729) pp. 209-305.
• “Table général des quarrez magiques de quatre”, in: Mémoires de
l’Académie Royale des Sciences t. 5 (1729) pp. 305-354.
Scientific Honors:
In 1666 Frénicle became member of the Académie des Sciences.
References and Literature:
• Charles Coulston Gillespie (ed.), Dictionary of scientific biography, vol. V
(New York 1972) pp. 158-160.
• A.G. Debus, “Pierre Gassendi and his scientific expedition of 1640”, Archives
internationales d’histoire des sciences 63 (1963) pp. 133-134.
• C.R. Fletcher, “A reconstruction of the Frenicle-Fermat correspondence of
1640”, Historia Mathematica 18 (1991) pp, 344-351.
• Karel H. de Haas, Frénicle’s 880 basic Magic Squares of 4x4 cells, normalized, indexed, and inventoried and recounted as 1232 (Rotterdam 1935).
• Robert Ineichen, “De ersten kombinatorischen Untersuchungen zum Zahlenlotto. Die Beiträge von Juan Carmuel y Lobkowitz und Frenicle de Bessy”,
in: Rudolf Seising (ed.), Form, Zahl, Ordnung. Studien zur Wissenschaftsund Technikgeschichte. Ivo Schneider zum 65. Geburtstag (Stuttgart 2004)
pp. 257-268.
• W.W.R. Ball, A Short Account of the History of Mathematics (London
1912; New York 2001) pp. 308f.
• J.J. O’Connor, E.F. Robertson, http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/ history/Mathematicians/Frenicle de Bessy.html (03 June 2008).
• J.J. O’Connor, E.F. Robertson, http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/ history/References/Frenicle de Bessy.html (03 June 2008).
• http://www.geocities.com/ harveyh/order4list.htm (21 April 2008).
Author(s) of this contribution:
Claudia von Collani
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