What is Gerolamo Cardano?
[[File:Cardano.jpg|thumb|250px|right|Gerolamo Cardano]] '''Gerolamo Cardano''' or '''Girolamo Cardano''' (English '''Jerome Cardan''', Latin '''Hieronymus Cardanus'''; September 24, 1501 - September 21, 1576) was a celebrated [[Italy|Italian]] [[Renaissance]] [[mathematician]], [[physician]], and [[astrologer]]. As he was an illegitimate child, he could not enter the college of physicians. Despite this he was a relatively successful physician. The first description of [[Typhoid fever]] is attributed to him. Today he is mainly known as a [[mathematician]]. He made some discoveries in [[algebra]]. He proposed ways to solve [[cubic equation|cubic]] and [[quartic equation]]s. [[Niccolò Fontana Tartaglia]] told him about the solution of one particular cubic equation, ''<math>x^3+ax+b=0</math>''. This caused a long fight. His student [[Lodovico Ferrari]] solved the quartic equations. Cardano also speaks about [[imaginary number]]s in the same book, ''Ars Magna''. Cardano was often short of money, and gambled compulsively. A book of his, ''Liber de ludo aleae'' (''Book on Games of Chance'' in the English), contains the first systematic treatment of probability, as well as a section on cheating. He wrote it ''c.'' 1564, but it was first published posthumously, in 1663. He invented various things, including the {{ill|Cardan grille|en}} and the {{ill|Baguenaudier|en}}. He also believed that [[perpetual motion]] was impossible, except for stars. {{bio-stub}} {{authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Cardano, Gerolamo}} [[Category:1501 births]] [[Category:1576 deaths]] [[Category:Astrologers]] [[Category:Italian esotericists]] [[Category:Italian mathematicians]] [[Category:Italian physicians]]