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Gassendi or Gassend, Pierre 1592-1655
French philosopher and scientist

Born in Champtercier, Provence, he was ordained a priest in 1616, and became Professor of Philosophy at Aix University in 1617 and Professor of Mathematics at the Collčge Royal in Paris in 1645. He was a strong advocate of the experimental approach to science and tried to reconcile an atomic theory of matter with Christian doctrine. He may be best known as an early critic of Descartes, but he also wrote on Epicurus, Tycho Brahe and Copernicus. His other works include Exercitationes Paradoxicae adversus Aristoteleos (1624), Institutio Astronomica (1647) and the Syntagma Philosophicum ('Philosophical Treatise', published posthumously in 1658).