Click the picture above to see three larger pictures Show
birthplace location
|Previous||(Alphabetically)||Next||Biographies index | |Version
for printing| Marin Mersenne was born into a working class
family in the small town of Oizé in the province of Maine on 8
September 1588 and was baptised on the same day. From an early
age he showed signs of devotion and eagerness to study. So,
despite their financial situation, Marin's parents sent him to
the Collège du Mans where he took grammar classes. Later, at the
age of sixteen, Mersenne asked to go to the newly established
Jesuit School in La Flèche which had been set up as a model
school for the benefit of all children regardless of their
parents' financial situation. It turns out that Descartes, who
was eight years younger than Mersenne, was enrolled at the same
school although they are not thought to have become friends
until much later. Mersenne's father wanted his son to have a
career in the Church. Mersenne, however, was devoted to study,
which he loved, a