marquis de Jean-Antoine-Nicolas de Caritat Condorcet

Born in Ribemont, France, on September 17, 1743, Marie Jean Antoine Nicolas de Caritat inherited the title Marquis de Condorcet. He became known as a mathematician, philosopher, political economist, and advocate of social reform, joining the intellectual world of the French Enlightenment.

Condorcet made important contributions to the study of probability and collective decision-making, including the voting theory now associated with the Condorcet method. He also wrote on education, political rights, economic policy, and the progress of human knowledge, arguing strongly for reason, equality, and broader access to learning.

During the French Revolution, he served as a deputy and worked on plans for a national system of public education. Forced into hiding during the political turmoil, he died in Bourg-la-Reine on March 29, 1794. His unfinished Sketch for a Historical Picture of the Progress of the Human Mind became one of his best-known statements of faith in human progress.