Little
is known of the
early life of Roberval. In 1628 he arrived in Paris
and put himself in contact with the members of
Mersenne's
circle. He became professor
of philosphy at the Collège de Maître Gervais in
1632. On 24
June 1634 Roberval acquired the Ramus chair at the Collège
Royal in
Paris and in 1655 also succeeded to the chair of mathematics. He
studied the geometry of infinitesimals. Roberval
was
one of the charter members of the Académie des Sciences in
Paris which
was founded in 1666.
