William R. Shea graduated from the University of Cambridge. He taught at the University of Ottawa, McGill University, and the University of Strasbourg before joining the faculty at the University of Padua in 2003. He is the author, co-author or editor of over 30 books including Galileo's Intellectual Revolution and The Magic of Numbers and Motion: The Scientific Career of Ren� Descartes. His book Designing Experiments and Games of Chance: The Unconventional Science of Blaise Pascal won the Library Association Award as one of the outstanding academic books of 2003.