  Born in 1592 to a family of commoners in the tranquil Haute-Provence town of Champtercier, Pierre Gassendi rose to become the greatest Provençal scholar of his day, a member of the preeminent French intellectual group of his times—the Mersenne circle—and professor of mathematics at the College Royal. At an early age, his instructors recognized great potential, and dispatched him at age sixteen to Aix-en-Provence for studies of further sophistication than his local schooling could provide. In these first years of scholarly pursuit, Gassendi shuttled between Aix and Digne (the provincial capital) and so began a life-long pattern of itinerant travel. His extensive and early education vaulted him to professorship at Aix while still in his mid-twenties. He shuttled between careers as well, attaining success and station not only in academic circles but also in the Catholic Church.