Abraham de Moivre (
May 26,
1667 -
November 27,
1754), was a French
mathematician famous for
de Moivre's formula, which links
complex numbers and
trigonometry, and for his work on the
normal distribution and
probability theory. He was elected a Fellow of the
Royal Society in 1697, and was a friend of
Isaac Newton and
Edmund Halley.
De Moivre was born in Vitry-le-François, Champagne.
The social status of his family is unclear,
but De Moivre's father, a surgeon,
was able to send him to the Protestant academy at Sedan (1678-82).
De Moivre studied logic at Saumur (1682-84),
attended the Collège de Harcourt in Paris (1684),
and studied privately with Jacque Ozanam (1684-85).
It does not appear that De Moivre received a college degree.
De Moivre was a Calvinist,
and he left France after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes (1685),
and spent the remainder of his life in England.
Throughout his life he remained poor.
It is reported that he was a regular customer of Slaughter's Coffee House, St. Martin's Lane at Cranbourn Street,
where he earned a little money from playing chess.
He died in London and was buried at St Martin's-in-the-Fields,
although his body was later moved.
De Moivre wrote a book on probability theory, titled The Doctrine of Chances.
See also
References
- H. J. R. Murray. History of Chess. Oxford University Press, 1913, p 846.
External links