Gerolamo Cardano was an Italian polymath whose interests and proficiencies ranged through those of mathematician, physician, biologist, physicist, chemist, astrologer, astronomer, philosopher, music theorist, writer, and gambler. He became one of the most influential mathematicians of the Renaissance and one of the key figures in the foundation of probability; he introduced the binomial coefficients and the binomial theorem in the Western world. He wrote more than 200 works on science. October 4, 1501 – September 30, 1576; died at 74. Alive at the same time as William Shakespeare, Michelangelo, Martin Luther, Niccolò Machiavelli, and Ferdinand Magellan. Wiki link