It isn’t often that we come across a person who contributes significantly to a number of different fields. Such polymaths – individuals whose knowledge encompasses a wide range of subjects – have always been rare. Frenchman Dominique Francois Jean Arago was one such person in this world, as he donned the hat of a physicist, mathematician, astronomer, and politician in an eventful life.
Born in 1786 in Estagel, Roussillon, France, Arago was one of 11 children. Educated at the Municipal College of Perpignan, Arago was drawn towards mathematics from a young age. He was admitted to the Ecole Polytechnique in Paris, where he succeeded French mathematician Gaspard Monge as the chair of Analytic Geometry at the young age of 23.
