10 November 1524

Pavia Casino in Italy was the location. I had been sitting at the Blackjack table for about 30 minutes when all of a sudden, a tall, skinny, bearded man sat down next to me. He pulled out a rubber band which held together what seemed to me like a month's wage. At the Blackjack table, though, it is all about winning. Others could affect the outcome of winning and losing since it is everyone sitting at the table versus the dealer. After playing for some time, while others came and left empty-handed, we realized that we were both pretty good players. I was interested in this man, not in just our success at the Blackjack table, but what else what going on in his head that made him successful at this game. I invited him to get a drink with me and to my surprise he accepted. After talking to him for about 5 minutes, I realized that I was talking to a very intelligent, well spoken, life tested, determined individual. One of the first questions that is always asked when new friends are made at the casino is, "What brings you here?" You wouldn't believe the range of answers that you get when you ask this question. When asking this question to this man, it seemed to open up a large explanation as he took in a big breath and then let out a large sigh. He proceeded to talk about how earlier that day, the university in which he attended (The University of Pavia) had to shut down due to the Italian War. He told me that he did not want to return home because it was against the wishes of his father to attend this university. "Where did your dad want you to go?" I asked him. He replied, "My dad is a very well known lawyer, so he wanted me to go to school to practice law. Instead I told him that I was more interested in studying philosophy, science, and mathematics." You could tell that after talking about his family for a little bit, he started to get a little bit choked up and uneasy. "Is everything okay? We don't have to talk about it if you don't want to," I remarked. "I'm fine," he said, "It was nice to meet you." "It was nice to meet you too... sorry, I don't believe I asked you what your name was." He turned around and said that his name was Gerolamo Cardano. "That was weird," I said aloud as if someone was watching our interaction. I think I am going to take back all of my nice comments I said about him earlier. . .

Sources:
- O'Connor, J J, and E F Robertson. “Girolamo Cardano.” Cardan Biography, School of Mathematics and Statistics University of St Andrews, Scotland, June 1998, www-history.mcs.st-and.ac.uk/Biographies/Cardan.html.
- Boyd, Andy, and John H. Lienhard. “Engines Of Our Ingenuity.” No. 1950: Girolamo Cardano, University of Houston, 1988, uh.edu/engines/epi1950.htm.