Nicolas-Claude Fabri de Peiresc

Nicolas-Claude Fabri de Peiresc, who lived from 1 December 1580 to 24 June 1637 and is often known simply as Peiresc, was a French astronomer, antiquary and savant who kept up a wide correspondence with scientists and organized scientific inquiry. Born in Belgentier in Provence, he studied in Aix-en-Provence and Avignon and at the Jesuit college at Tournon, finished his legal studies at the University of Montpellier in 1604, and from 1607 to 1615 served as a conseiller in the Parlement of Provence. His research included determining differences in longitude between locations around the Mediterranean, and he undertook the first map of the Moon based on telescopic observations. He studied fossils, supported Pierre Gassendi from 1634 to 1637, and was known as Galileo lawyer and as a prince of the Republic of Letters.