Fermat, Pierre

[person]

A French lawyer and mathematician, born in Beaumont-de-Lomagne (1602-1665 CE). Fermat had a very successful career in the criminal court, but retained a deep interest in mathematics. He made contributions toward the development of calculus and analytical geometry; and along with Blaise Pascal he laid the foundations of probability theory which led to development of statistical methods. For further information, see our module Statistics in Scientific Research.