Mathematical Treasure: Jacques Chauvet’s Petit traitté de la fortification moderne

Jacques Chauvet was a 17th-century French mathematician. He authored several books on mathematics, invented a mathematical measuring instrument called a “cosmography,” and taught mathematics at the University of Paris. In 1600, he published Petit traitté de la fortification moderne (A Small Book of Modern Fortification).

New fortification designs were intended to lessen the damage  from cannon bombardment.

Reference

Davis, Natalie Zemon. 1958. Mathematicians in the Sixteenth-Century French Academies: Some Further Evidence. Renaissance News 11(1): 3–10.

These images are from the copy owned by the Dibner Library of the Smithsonian Institution Libraries. Rights and reproduction information may be found here.

Index to Mathematical Treasures