A
French mathematician and
probabilist, born May 26,
1667 in
Vitry, France, died November 27,
1754. As a
Protestant, he fled to
England in
1685 after being jailed when the
Edict of Nantes was repealed. There he was a friend of
Isaac Newton and
Edmond Halley, was elected to the
Royal Society in
1697.
He published The Doctrine of Chances in 1718, and Miscellanea Analytica in 1730. He predicted the day of his death by analyzing his sleeping habits. He died a poor man, but a happy one.