| • Science | • People | • Locations | • Timeline |
De Moivre was born in Vitry-le-François, Champagne. The social status of his family is unclear, but De Moivre's father, a surgeon, was able to send him to the Protestant academy at Sedan (1678-82). De Moivre studied logic at SaumurSaumur is a small city in the Maine-et-Loire departement of France on the Loire River, with an approximate population of 30,000 (in 2001). Saumur is home to the Cadre Noir, the Ecole nationale d'equitation (National equestrian school), known for its annua (1682-84), attended the Collège de Harcourt in Paris (1684), and studied privately with OzanamOzanam was the name of several people: Jacques Ozanam ( 1640- 1717), French mathematician Frederic Antoine Ozanam ( 1813- 1853), French scholar. (1684-85). It does not appear that De Moivre received a college degree.
De Moivre was a Calvinist, and he left France after the revocation of the Edict of NantesThe Edict of Nantes was issued on April 13, 1598 by Henry IV of France to grant French Protestants (also known as Huguenots) substantial rights in a Catholic nation. The main concern was civil unity, and the Edict separated civil from religious unity, tre (1685), and spent the remainder of his life in England.
Throughout his life he remained poor. It is reported that he was a regular customer of Slaughter's Coffee House, St. Martin's Lane at Cranbourn Street, where he earned a little money from playing chessFor other meanings, see Chess (disambiguation). Chess (from the Persian word Shah is a board game for two players played on a square board divided into eight rows (or ranks and eight columns (or files creating 64 individual squares which alternate in colo. He died in London and was buried at St Martin's-in-the-Fields, although his body was later moved.
De Moivre wrote a book on probability theory, titled The Doctrine of ChancesThe Doctrine of Chances is a book on probability theory by 18th-century French mathematician Abraham de Moivre, published in 1733. De Moivre wrote in English because he resided in England at the time, having fled France to escape the persecution of Protes.