ABSTRACT
George-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon, probably raised some eyebrows during his strange experiment in 1777. Imagine the scene in a grand house on what is now Rue Buffon in the Fifth Arrondissement in Paris, the street named after him to honour his development of calculus in probability theory. Buffon is standing in the tiled entrance hall under large chandeliers, throwing loaves of French bread over his shoulder. Servants are running backwards and forwards picking up these loaves, under the careful, if slightly incredulous, gaze of local dignitaries. These dignitaries come from the aristocracy, parliament, church and university. What is Buffon up to now? Buffon is oblivious and continues to throw, counting the number of loaves that touch or cross lines on the floor, and counting the total number of loaves. This is his new theory, and it will give him a place in the history books of mathematics. It is his special day and he only hears the applause of his peers. Generations of mathematicians to come will use his ideas in many areas of mathematics, including quantum dynamics. Buffon’s publicity event not only creates a new theory but gives him a means of estimating π.
