Jacques du Chevreul (born 1595 in Coutances, France; died 1649 in Paris) was a French mathematician, astronomer, and philosopher. Du Chevreul grew up in an educated household and was the son of a magistrate. In 1616, he received a Master of Arts for studying humanities and philosophy at the University of Paris. Du Chevreul continued education at a higher level and received a Bachelor of Divinity for theology in 1619. He did not start teaching until 1620 where he remained associated with College Harcourt and University of Paris, up until two years before his death when he taught philosophy at the College Royal. Throughout his lifetime Jacques du Chevreul held various teaching and administrative positions including principal and rector. Little is known about his later life. Although he studied subjects such as philosophy, logic, ethics, metaphysics, and physics, he published his two popular books on mathematics. Arithmetica (1622) and Sphaera (1623, 1640, and 1649) were both published in Paris, France. Sphaera, du Chevreul's most popular book was about his view of the world and the universe. He used references from the Bible, Aristotle, and Plato to reject the Copernican model and instead created his own eccentric-epicycle geocentric model of the universe. Du Chevreul believed that the Earth was the center of the universe, but that the major planets Venus and Mercury orbited around the Sun. He theorized that there were wandering and fixed stars in the heavens and there were a total of thirteen planets in his model. The heavens were in the order of the Moon, the Sun (Mercury and Venus orbited around the Sun), Mars, Jupiter surrounded by four Medicean stars, Saturn with two satellites, and above all these levels resided God. Du Chevreul's cosmic scheme is a highly original attempt to resist Copernicanism and accommodate Galileo's telescopic discoveries in an Aristotelian cosmos.
Early life and career Jacques du Chevreul was born 1595 in Cotounces which is a commune in the Manche department in Normandy in north-western France. He was born a year earlier than René Descartes, and died a year before Descartes as well. Unlike Descartes, du Chevreul was always associated with a university, specifically the University of Paris and the College of Harcourt. He was the son of a magistrate, a civil officer or judge who administers the law. Descartes’ father was also a magistrate, adding to their similarities. Jacques du Chevreul's father held a Master's of Law from Poitiers. Although his father studied law, Du Chevreul decided to take his career in a different direction.
He started his education in humanities and philosophy in which he received a master's degree (Master of Arts) from the University of Paris in 1616. After receiving his master's degree, unlike many of his peers, he decided to continue his education in the higher faculty of theology and received the degree of Bachelor of Divinity in 1619. Du Chevreul held Aristotelian views on mathematics and began a teaching career in 1620 at Harcourt, which is another commune in the Normandy region of northern France. He taught primarily philosophy, but also some mathematics. The duration of the philosophy course was two years, and it consisted of a year of Logic and Ethics followed by another year of Metaphysics and Physics. From the 1620s to the 1640s, Jacques du Chevreul was a professor at the University of Paris. In the years 1623 through 1626 and 1633 through 1634, du Chevreul taught the Logic and Ethics curriculum. In the years 1628 through 1629 and 1634 through 1635, du Chevreul taught the Metaphysics and Physics curriculum. Two years prior to his death, du Chevreul also worked at the Collège Royal as a professor of philosophy. Jacques du Chevreul died in the year 1649 in Paris, France.Although he did not publish his philosophy lectures, he did publish two mathematical texts. The mathematical curriculum in the early 17th century was divided into the quadrivium, the four liberal arts of arithmetic, geometry, music, and astronomy together with optics and other mathematically based disciplines. During his time at the University of Paris, du Chevreul published two mathematical works, Arithmetica in 1622 and Sphaera in 1623. The basis of astronomical teaching at the time was the textbook genre known as the Sphere.
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