Rene Descartes (1596-1650) was born in La Haye in Touraine, France. His mother died shortly after his birth and he was raised by his father, a councilor of the parlement of Rennes in Brittany who enrolled him in the celebrated Jesuit college of La Flèche at the age of eight. When Descartes refused to get up in the morning, complaining of ill health, his teachers allowed him to study in bed until noon, a practice he continued for the rest of his life.

After its publication, the Meditations attracted a wide following, not just among philosophers, scientists, artists and leading intellectuals of the time, but even royalty. The daughter of the titular king of Bohemia, Princess Elizabeth, began writing him and Descartes wrote back that her understanding of both his Discourse and his Meditations was "incomparable." A few years later, in 1649, Queen Christina of Sweden urged him to come to Sweden and become her private tutor so that she could become enlightened by his new philosophy. At first he turned down her offer "to live in the land of bears among rocks and ice," but the French ambassador persuaded him to go. In Stockholm the Queen requested her lessons while much of the court was still asleep, at 5:00 a.m. Within four months, Descartes caught pneumonia and died.

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