“He was employed throughout life in the service of the state, under Henry III and Henry IV. He was, therefore, not a mathematician by profession, but his love for the science was so great that he remained in his chamber studying, sometimes several days in succession, without eating and sleeping more than was necessary to sustain himself. So great devotion to abstract science is the more remarkable because he lived at a time of incessant political and religious turmoil.”

Source: top5-pipeline