Full Name: René Descartes
Nickname: Poitevin
Known As: Father of modern philosophy

Father: Joachim Descartes
Mother: Jeanne Brochard (d. 1597)
Girlfriend: Helena Jans van der Strom
Daughter: Francine (1635-40, scarlet fever)

Date of Birth: 31 March 1596
Birth Place: La Haye en Touraine, Touraine, France

Date of Death: 11 February 1650 (aged 53)
Death Place: Stockholm, Sweden
Cause of Death: Pneumonia
Remains: Buried, Saint-Germain-des-Prés Church, Paris, France

Religion: Roman Catholic
Race or Ethnicity: White
Education: University of Poitiers, Prytanée National Militaire
Occupation: Philosopher, Mathematician

Main Interests: Metaphysics, Epistemology, Mathematics.

Notable Ideas: Cogito ergo sum, method of doubt, Cartesian coordinate system, Cartesian dualism, Ontological argument for the existence of Christian God, Mathesis Universalis; Folium of Descartes.

Influenced By: Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Cicero, Alhazen, Augustine, Aquinas, Ockham, Suarez, Mersenne, Sextus Empiricus, Montaigne, Jacobus Golius, Beeckman, Duns Scotus.

Influenced: Immanuel Kant, David Hume, Friedrich Hegel, Isaac Newton, Hobbes, Arnauld, Malebranche, Wagner, Pascal, Biran, John Locke, Huygens, Gottfried Leibniz, Henry More.

Major Writing: Discourse on the Method (1637), La Géométrie (1637), Meditations on First Philosophy (1641), Principles of Philosophy (1644), Les Passions de l'âme (1649), Musicae Compendium (1650), Regulae ad Directionem Ingenii (1701).

French philosopher, mathematician and writer René Descartes (31 March 1596 – 11 February 1650) are known as the "Father of Modern Philosophy". He was born on 31 March 1596 in La Haye en Touraine, (now known as Descartes), France. His father, Joachim Descartes was a member of the Parlement of Brittany at Rennes and his mother, Jeanne Brochard died when he was only one. In 1606/1607 he was admitted to the Jesuit Collège Royal Henry-Le-Grand at La Flèche where he was taught mathematics and physics. After graduation in December 1616, he studied at the University of Poitiers to study law. In 1618, He was in the defence force of Maurice of Nassau, Dutch Republic and returned to France four years later.

Descartes returned to the Dutch Republic in 1628, where he lived until September 1649. In April 1629 he joined the University of Franeker, using the fake name "Poitevin". In 1633, Galileo was denounced by the Roman Catholic Church and Descartes was compelled to not publish his Treatise on the World. In 1637, he published Discourse on the Method. He wrote Meditations on First Philosophy in 1641 and in 1644, Descartes published Principal of Philosophy. In 1647, He was rewarded a pension by the King of France. He was never married. He relationship with Helena Jans van der Strom and had a daughter named Francine with whom. Descartes died on 11 February 1650 from Pneumonia.