Born in Montpelier, France, Isidore Auguste Marie Francois Compte (1798-1857) was the son of a tax-collector. After studying at the Ècole Polytechnique at Paris for two years he took part in the student rebellion that closed the school. he stayed in Paris and supported himself giving private lessons in mathematics while studying philosophy. In 1833 when the Ècole Polytechnique reopened he was hired as an entrance examiner but two years later, when it was discovered that he had taken part in the revolution, he was fired. He had by then however attracted the support of his many admirers, among them John Stuart Mill in England, who regarded him as the most "original and bold new thinker" of his time.

bio by Daniel Kolak in Lovers of Wisdom
(Wadsworth, 1997)