Jacques Ozanam

Jacques Ozanam (16 June 1640 – 3 April 1718) was a French mathematician.

Biography

Jacques Ozanam was born in Sainte-Olive, Ain, France.

In 1670, he published trigonometric and logarithmic tables more accurate than the existing ones of Ulacq, Pitiscus, and Briggs. An act of kindness in lending money to two strangers brought him to the attention of M. d'Aguesseau, father of the chancellor, and he secured an invitation to settle in Paris. There he enjoyed prosperity and contentment for many years. He married, had a large family, and derived an ample income from teaching mathematics to private pupils, chiefly foreigners.

His mathematical publications were numerous and well received. Récréations (published 1694) was later translated into English and is well known today. He was elected a member of the Académie des Sciences in 1701. The death of his wife plunged him into deep sorrow, and the loss of his foreign pupils through the War of the Spanish Succession reduced him to poverty. He died in Paris on April 3, 1718 (frequently cited as 1717 because of an error in "éloge de Fontenelle").

Ozanam was honoured worldwide for his contributions towards mathematics.

He taught Abraham de Moivre.

Selected works

(1670) (1673) (1684) (1687)

(1688) (1691) (Paris, 1693, 5 vols, tr. into English, London, 1712) (Paris, 1694) (1694, 2 vols, revised by Montucla in 1778, 4 vols) (1698) (1699) (1702) (1711) (1711).