Beaune, Florimond De

, theson of Florimond de Beaune, seigneur of Goulieux, was born at Blois in 1601, and having studied law, became counsellor of the presidial of Blois. He was most celebrated, however, for his skill in mathematics, which induced Descartes to pay him a visit, which de Beaune returned afterwards, and they frequently consulted one another on their pursuits. De Beaune | invented many astronomical instruments, and some telescopes of great utility. He is also famous for a problem that bears his name; it consists in the construction of a curve, with conditions that render it extremely difficult. Descartes solved this problem; and de Beaune, animated by the praises of a man so celebrated, discovered a method of determining the nature, of curves by the properties of their tangents. De Beaune died in 1652, in his fifty-first year.¹