Problem of Apollonius/Historical Note

Historical Note on the Problem of Apollonius

The Problem of Apollonius was originally posed by Apollonius of Perga in his work Tangencies.

It was supposedly solved by Elisabeth of the Palatinate during the course of a series of mathematical discussions with René Descartes sometime around or after $1641$.

While this in itself is a remarkable feat, the fact that she achieved it using Descartes' own methods makes it more impressive, as these are not the easiest tools to use to attack the problem.

However, Descartes appears to have been unfairly and cruelly dismissive of her achievement

Sources

• 1937: Eric Temple Bell: Men of Mathematics ... (previous) ... (next): Chapter $\text{III}$: Gentleman, Soldier and Mathematician