revolutionary that is survived until the middle 20th century. The commune of Balesmes was merged with the commune of Descartes in 1966. The new commune was formed and was renamed to Descartes in 1967, as a honour of the philosopher René Descartes, who was born in the village in 1596. The town is locally nicknamed as the "town of the three Renés" (René Descartes, René de Buxeuil, and René Boylesve). Personalities The town is notable in Acadian genealogy as the birthplace of the Heberts and the famous mathematician René Descartes, who invented the Cartesian coordinate system. To honour him, there is a statue near the town hall. It was also the birthplace of landscape painter, Pierre Ballue, as well as René Boylesve, writer and literary critic, the electrical engineer Gustave Trouvé, and the composer René de Buxeuil. International relationships Descartes is twinned with four other cities in three countries: Cheddar, United Kingdom (1952) Aurora do Tocantins, Brazil (1973) La Albuera, Spain (1996) Pueblonuevo del Guadiana, Spain (2013) Descartes also has cooperation with Lhatse in Tibet and Villadiego in Spain. See also List of places named after people Communes of the Indre-et-Loire department References Communes of Indre-et-Loire Touraine