Fermat 1601 – 1665
Pièrre de Fermat, one of the greatest mathematicians of his time, was born on the 17th August of 1601 in Beaumont-de-Lomagne, South France. His father was a prosperous leather merchant and his mother a daughter of a prominent ‘famille de robe’ – a family with high reputation because of its legal profession. He had two sisters, Marie and Louise, and a brother, Clement.
In his early youth his family became even wealthier. This increasing wealth cleared his further way to a higher social class. Since the main key to it lay in a respectable profession, it was no surprise that when Fermat finished his primary and secondary education in his hometown, he moved to Toulouse to study civil law at the University of Toulouse. From there he went to the University of Law at Orleans, where he received the degree of Bachelor of Civil Laws on 1st May 1631. After he graduated he almost immediately started to work as conseiller au Parlement de Toulouse and commissaire aux requetes du Palais which offices he had been able to purchase earlier. Soon afterwards he married his cousin, Louise de Long. The rise of his family was obvious by then, and quite soon some of his relatives were members of the high noblesse de robe. Fermat himself was entitled to use the noble “de” in his name from 1631 on.
After this time we know less about him. Five children arose from his marriage, amongst which only his eldest son, Clement-Samuel, is of historical interest. He was closest to Fermat and shared his mathematical interests which led him finally to the editing and publishing of Fermat’s Observations on Diophantus and Various Mathematical Works posthumously. He also inherited Fermat’s office.
Fermat’s life was a calm one. He maintained his bond to his hometown, Beaumont, where he frequently worked in the conseil general. He also worked as a successful lawyer without grand political ambitions in Toulouse, where he spent the greatest part of his life. In addition, he often traveled to Castres, where he was a member of the Commission de la Chambre de l’Edit from 1632 on. Throughout his youth and his later life he maintained correspondence with many of the greater French mathematicians of his time, especially with Mersenne, who served as his connection to other scholars, and with Pascal, with whom he founded probability theory.
He was of good health until 1653, when the Plague struck Toulouse on its way north. Apparently he was on the threshold of death for a short time before he recovered, and one of his friends even reported his death mistakenly though he corrected himself afterwards: “I informed you earlier of the death of Fermat. He is still alive, and we no longer fear for his health, even though we had counted him among the dead a short time ago.” Fermat recovered, but he fell sick again in 1660. This sickness detained him from meeting Blaise Pascal, another great mathematician of that time who was of equally frail health, and led him to make his last will. By the summer of 1662 Fermat had written his last letter of scientific content and on 12th January 1665 he died at the age of 64.
There were several attempts to cast light on his professional and private life after his death. Most historians agree that he seemed to be a good lawyer, which was indicated by his rapid rising in the chambers, although the death of several older members of the parliament caused by the Plague also had its share in this success. But at the same time, he seemed to be a politically unambitious man, or at least unambitious in that he never crossed the firing line between the parliament and the central authorities. Most of his contemporaries stated that he seemed to have good connections to learned men everywhere, but was often preoccupied and therefore confused and distracted. Perhaps that is one of the main reasons why he could remain in his position until his death.
The statue ‘Fermat and his Muse’ in his hometown Toulouse