Pierre Hérigone

Only one work by Hérigone is known to exist:[1] Cursus mathematicus, nova, brevi, et clara methodo demonstratus, per notas reales et universales, citra usum cujuscunque idiomatis intellectu faciles (published in Paris in six volumes from 1634 to 1637; second edition 1644), a compendium of elementary mathematics written in French and Latin.

Florian Cajori has written that the work contains "a full recognition of the importance of notation and an almost reckless eagerness to introduce an exhaustive set of symbols..."[2] Hérigone may have been the first to introduce the mathematical symbol to express an angle.

In Hérigone's work, we find the earliest written examples of mathematical terms.

In the Cursus mathematicus, Hérigone describes a camera obscura in the form of a goblet (Chapter 6, page 113).

Hérigone did not depict his goblet, but Johann Zahn would illustrate the design in his Oculus Artificialis Teledioptricus Sive Telescopium (1685).