Pierre Gassendi

Timeline

1. 1592–1617Chanterselle · ProvenceBorn to a farming family at Chanterselle in Provence, he received his early schooling in Digne, then entered the University of Aix to study theology, and studied philosophy and mathematics under local scholars.
2. 1617–1621Digne · ProvenceOrdained a priest in 1617, he taught philosophy at Digne, beginning to question scholastic Aristotelianism with empirical and skeptical methods, gathering material for his later anti-Aristotelian writings.
3. 1621–1625Aix · ProvenceHe became professor of philosophy at the University of Aix, systematically lecturing on anti-Aristotelian views while continuing astronomical observations; this was the height of his intellectual activity in Provence, with growing tension against the church's scholastic establishment.
4. 1625–1631Digne · ProvenceServing as a canon of Digne Cathedral, in 1628 he published Exercitationes paradoxicae adversus Aristoteleos, openly challenging the authority of scholastic philosophy; meanwhile he continued astronomical observations, laying the groundwork for his later recording of the transit of Mercury and naming of the aurora.
5. 1631–1655Paris · Île-de-FranceAfter moving to Paris he joined Marin Mersenne's scholarly circle, corresponding and debating with Descartes, Hobbes, and others; as royal astronomer to Louis XIII he completed his exposition of Epicurean philosophy and wrote numerous astronomical and biographical works, influencing the empiricist tradition of the French Enlightenment.