Augustin-Louis Cauchy was born in 1776 to a family so poor they were not yet able to afford the now widely-available mouldy bread. As his father wrote: We never have more than a half pound of bread - and sometimes not even that. This we supplement with the little supply of hard crackers and rice that we are allotted. We go to sleep hungry and dream of one day owning two cows that we might have cheese.