Monge; the other—to solve problems on figures in space by constructions in a plane—had received considerable attention before his time. His most noteworthy predecessor in descriptive geometry was the Frenchman Frézier (1682–1773). But it remained for Monge to create descriptive geometry as a distinct branch of science by imparting to it geometric generality and elegance. All problems previously treated in a special and uncertain manner were referred back to a few general principles. He introduced the line of intersection of the horizontal and the vertical plane as the axis of projection. By revolving one plane into the other around this axis or ground-line, many advantages were gained.[54]
Gaspard Monge (1746–1818) was born at Beaune. The construction of a plan of his native town brought the boy under the notice of a colonel of engineers, who procured for him an appointment in the college of engineers at Mézières. Being of low birth, he could not receive a commission in the army, but he was permitted to enter the annex of the school, where surveying and drawing were taught. Observing that all the operations connected with the construction of plans of fortification were conducted by long arithmetical processes, he substituted a geometrical method, which the commandant at first refused even to look at, so short was the time in which it could be practised; when once examined, it was received with avidity. Monge developed these methods further and thus created his descriptive geometry. Owing to the rivalry between the French military schools of that time, he was not permitted to divulge his new methods to any one outside of this institution. In 1768 he was made professor of mathematics at Mézières. In 1780, when conversing with two of his pupils, S. F. Lacroix and Gayvernon in Paris, he was obliged to say, "All that I have here done by calculation, I could have
