ORGANIZATION@1 , NUMBER@1 For his first scientific work , at the age of only NUMBER@2 , PERSON@1 wrote a paper describing a mechanical means of drawing mathematical curves with a piece of twine , and the properties of ellipses and curves with more than two foci .

In NUMBER@3 , when he was only NUMBER@2 , he wrote a paper describing a way of drawing mathematical curves with a piece of string .
