René Perron Descartes was born on March 31st in 1596 in La Haye, a town in South of France. He was born in his maternal grandmother's house. He died in Stockholm, Sweden on February 11, 1650. He had traveled to Stockholm to teach Queen Christina philosophy. He had never been a very healthy man but since the Queen was an early riser so she demanded that her lesson be at 5:00 in the morning every single day. From this he contracted Pneumonia and died. He was first buried in Stockholm, and then later after the Queen's abdication his corpse was brought to Paris and interred at the Abbey of Ste. Geneviève. In 1819 his remains were laid in the church of St. Germain-des-Prés, but it was noted at this point that the skull had gone missing. In 1821 a skull turned up in Stockholm later bearing the inscription "René Descartes". It was bought by the Swedish chemist Berzelius, who offered it to be placed with the rest of the remains. However the skull was kept, and is often put on display at the Museum of Natural History in France.