Did Ya Know? How Descartes Died…
DYK: Rene Descartes, the father of modern philosophy, died from a lack of sleep?
A sickly child, Descartes often had to lie in bed until noon to stay well. However in his 50s, he was hired for a lavish sum to tutor the young Queen Christina of Sweeden. The job required him to get up at 5 am each morning which made Descartes chronically sleep deprived. After only a short time at the post, he caught a fever which led to the pneumonia that killed him.
(via The Writer's Almanac).