Girolamo Cardano

About the Author

Girolamo Cardano (1501–1576) was a Renaissance physician, mathematician, philosopher, astrologer, and prolific natural philosopher whose restless curiosity ranged across science, medicine, gambling, dreams, and human character. Born in Pavia, he built an international reputation through bold ideas and an equally unconventional life, often treating personal experience as material for intellectual inquiry. His candid autobiographical work, The Book of My Life (New York Review Books Classics), offers an unusually vivid portrait of Renaissance ambition, skepticism, eccentricity, and self-fashioning. Cardano remains a compelling figure for readers interested in the intersections of early modern science, philosophy, and lived experience.