Louis Carré

Louis Carré was a French mathematician and a member of the French Academy of Sciences, born on 26 July 1663 and dying on 17 April 1711, and the author of one of the first books on integral calculus. His father wished him to become a priest, and he studied theology for several years without joining the priesthood. He took a post as amanuensis to the philosopher Nicolas Malebranche, a mathematics professor of the Congregation of the Oratory, and tutored students, and on 4 February 1699 became a student of Pierre Varignon at the Academy of Sciences. In 1700 he published Une méthode pour la mesure des surfaces, la dimension des solides, leurs centres de pesanteur, de percussion et d'oscillation par l'application du calcul intégral. Between 1701 and 1705 he published over a dozen papers on mathematical and physical subjects, including a method for the rectification of curves by tangents and notes on refraction and on the tides.