Mathematical Responses to Desargues’ Rough Draft on Conics

Abstract

As we have already mentioned, the earliest responses to Desargues’ work on perspective (1636) included accusations of plagiarism. The response to his Rough Draft on Conics was more cautious, and eventually comparatively enthusiastic. The earliest recorded reactions include that of J. Beaugrand (?-1640) who pointed out, correctly, that various construction problems in geometry could be solved on strictly Apollonian lines and not, as Desargues had seemed to imply, only by his new methods. One is reminded of the fact that at the beginning of his Geometrie (1637) Descartes had been at pains to show that his new method could be used to solve problems which had defeated the Ancients. Not all the responses were so negative. In the Rough Draft on Conics Desargues himself mentions two mathematicians who apparently took a sympathetic attitude to his work: Jean Pujos and Jean-Baptiste Chauveau.