Marin Mersenne
Marin Mersenne (1588-1648)
According to the Internet source given below ( J.J. O'Connor and E.F. Robertson), Marin Mersenne was a French mathematician who attended school at the College of Mans, then, from 1604 spent five years in the Jesuit College at La Fleche. From 1609 to 1611 he studied theology at the Sorbonne.
Mersenne joined the religious order of the Minims in 1611. The name of the order comes since the Minims regard themselves as the least (minimi) of all the religious; they devote themselves to prayer, study and scholarship. Mersenne continued his education within the order at Nigeon and then at Meaux. He returned to Paris where in 1612 he became a priest at the Place Royale.
He taught philosophy at the Minim convent at Nevers from 1614 to 1618. In 1619 he returned again to Paris to the Minims de l'Annociade near Place Royale. His cell in Paris became a meeting place for Fermat, Pascal, Gassendi, Roberval, Beaugrand and others who later became the core of the French Academy. Mersenne corresponded with other eminent mathematicians and he played a major role in communicating mathematical knowledge throughout Europe at a time when there were no scientific journals.
His interests in music is demonstrated in his Traité d'harmonie universelle (1627), a work on music, musical instruments and acoustics.
Marin Mersenne has a "Gavotte" published in Tänze und Stücke alter Meister.
Books:
1588-1988, quatrième centenaire de la naissance de Marin Mersenne
L'impiété des déistes, athées et libertins de ce temps by Marin Mersenne
Mersenne and the Learning of the Schools by Peter Dear
Cited from
http://galileo.imss.firenze.it/vuoto/emerse.html
http://www.grainger.de/music/composers/mersenne.html