The Mirrour of True Nobility & Gentility Being the Life of Peiresc

Nicolas Peiresc (1580-1637) was a parliamentarian, a lawyer, an abbot, an historian, a biologist, an astronomer, a collector, and a generous patron. He played an important role in the advancement of science and in the preservation of antiquities. He may be considered as one of the missing links between the brillant Italian academies and the scientific societies of Northern Europe

Pierre Gassendi (1592-1655) was born in Provence like Peiresc. He was a professor of philosophy, a priest, an astronomer, a friend of Mersenne, a rival of Descartes, an assistant of Peiresc from 1632 to 1637, a supporter of Galileo, and was appointed in 1645 as one of the two professors of mathematics at the Royal College of France. He is the author of the remarkable biographies of Peiresc, Epicurus, Tycho Brahe, and Copernicus.