Jean-Charles de la Faille

Jean-Charles de la Faille (March 1, 1597-November 4, 1652) was a Belgian mathematician.

He was born in Antwerp, Belgium where he attended the jesuit school. In 1613, he became a member of the jesuit order and then went to a jesuit college in Mechelen for two years. Afterwards, he came back to Antwerp where he became a disciple of Gregorius Saint-Vincent. In 1620, he went to Dole, France to teach mathematics and learn theology. From 1626 to 1628, he taught mathematics at the jesuit college of Leuven, before being appointed to the Imperial College in Madrid. He there advised Philip IV, king of Spain, on military questions, and taught mathematics too. His most famous book is Theoremata de centro gravitatis partium circuli et ellipsis (1632) in which he determined the centre of gravity of the sector of a circle, for the first time. He died in Barcelona, Spain.

References

• The Mac Tutor History of Mathematics [1]