Descartes

[dey-kahrt; French dey-kart]

noun

Re·né [ruh-ney; French ruh-ney] /rəˈneɪ; French rəˈneɪ/, 1596–1650, French philosopher and mathematician.

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British Dictionary definitions for rene descartes

Descartes

noun

René (rəne). 1596–1650, French philosopher and mathematician. He provided a mechanistic basis for the philosophical theory of dualism and is regarded as the founder of modern philosophy. He also founded analytical geometry and contributed greatly to the science of optics. His works include Discours de la méthode (1637), Meditationes de Prima Philosophia (1641), and Principia Philosophiae (1644)

Related formsRelated adjective: Cartesian

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

rene descartes in Science

Descartes

[dā-kärt′]

French mathematician and philosopher who discovered that the position of a point can be determined by coordinates, a discovery that laid the foundation for analytic geometry.