The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2001-07.
Cardano, Geronimo
(jrô´nm kärdä´n) (KEY) , 1501–76, Italian physician and mathematician. His works on arithmetic and algebra established his reputation. Barred from official status as a physician because of his illegitimate birth, he practiced as a medical astrologer. His major work, De subtilitate rerum (1550), on natural history, is perceptive and implies a grasp of evolutionary principles. His book on games of chance represents the first organized theory of probability. Cardano described a tactile system similar to Braille for teaching the blind and thought it possible to teach the deaf by signs.
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