Pierre de Fermat was a French magistrate and mathematician credited with major contributions to the development of infinitesimal calculus. He also made significant contributions to analytical geometry, probability, optics and number theory. He is particularly well known for Fermat’s Last Theorem, which he claimed to have proved without providing a proof. The problem remained unsolved for over 350 years, until it was proved by Andrew Wiles in 1994, with the proof published in 1995.
