Jerome Cardano’s astrological reckoning was the date I used to backtrack Marc Jones Martin Luther King scope, and I have been a fan ever since. Since we seem to hitting a lot of mathematicians this week, I thought I would add his for Cardano wrote Ars magna (The Great Art; or, The Rules of Algebra) a cornerstone in the history of algebra cementing his reputation as a great mathematician and then turned his hand to astrology (astronomy in his day). His biograph is here.

Pluto not discovered for another 400 years, tells the tale for Signore Cardano, who prophesized his own death and when the date arrived killed himself to make his accuracy true. Luke Broughton was another astrologer who played that trick. The key to Pluto is that it the ruler of Scorpio that is naturally found in the eighth house; here Pluto is accidentally exalted at that same point making this heady placement.

Marc Jones originally called Pluto “obsession” and then “probity” for its compelling curiosity to discover the dark abyss of Scorpio’s secrets. In this position, both seem to work as Pluto gives Cardano a morbid fascination with death and trying to outwit it. As good as an astrologer cum mathematician Cardano was, he ignored his own reductionist psyche and fell into Pluto’s, the god god of the Underworld. nihilistic spell. Unable to confront that he was not the supreme gambler he thought, he forfeited the game: Cardano 0, Pluto 1.