Pierre Gassendi

Pierre Gassendi, born Pierre Gassend, Latinised Petrus Gassendus, at Champtercier near Digne on 22 January 1592 and dead on 24 October 1655, was a French philosopher, Catholic priest, astronomer and mathematician. While he held a church position in south-east France he also spent much time in Paris, where he led a group of free-thinking intellectuals. He was an active observational scientist, publishing the first data on the transit of Mercury in 1631, and the lunar crater Gassendi is named after him. He wrote numerous philosophical works that found a way between scepticism and dogmatism, clashed with Descartes over the possibility of certain knowledge, and is best known for his project of reconciling Epicurean atomism with Christianity.