He made an important contribution to the development of modern mathematics, and was known as the father of analytic geometry because he formulated the geometric coordinate system.

On behalf of Descartes, dualism left a famous saying "I think, therefore I am" and put forward the idea of "universal doubt". He is one of the founders of modern European philosophy, and Hegel called him "the father of modern philosophy". His philosophical thoughts deeply influenced later Europeans and opened up the so-called "European rationalism" philosophy.

He also clearly put forward the law of conservation of momentum for the first time: the total amount of matter and motion will never change. It laid the foundation for the law of conservation of energy.

Descartes applied his mechanistic viewpoint to celestial bodies, developed the theory of cosmic evolution and formed his theory of the origin and structure of the universe. He believes that it is easier to understand things from the perspective of development than just from the existing form. He founded the vortex theory. He thinks there are huge eddies and stars around the sun.