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WESTFALL CATALOGUE - SCIENTIFIC COMMUNITY Dr Robert A. Hatch - University of Florida Search - Name - Word - Category - Concept - Secondary Source - Author |
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Cabeo, Niccolo 1. Dates: Born: Ferrara, 26 February 1586; Died: Genoa, 30 June 1650; Datecode: Lifespan: 64 2. Father: No Information. No information on financial status. 3. Nationality: Birth: Italy; Career: Italy; Death: Italy 4. Education: Religious Orders; D.D. He attended the Jesuit college in Parma. Heilbron says Ferrara. I did not find any mention of university study. He clearly received the equivalent of a B.A. within the order and as a full Jesuit he would have had a theological degree. 5. Religion: Catholic. He was a Jesuit, having entered as a novice in 1602. 6. Scientific Disciplines: Magnetism; Natural Philosophy; Elc; Subordinate Disciplines: Mechanics. Cabeo is remembered partly because he was acquainted with Giovanni Battista Baliani, who experimented with falling weights, and wrote about Baliani's experiments. His interpretation that two different weights fall in the same length of time without regard to the medium became the indirect cause of other experiments conducted by Vincenzo Renieri. He experimented with pendulums. He published two major works, Philosophia magnetica (1629) and In quatuor libros meteorologicorum Aristotelis commentaria (1646), an anti-aristotelian work. 7. Means of Support: Church Living; Patronage; Cabeo taught theology and mathematics in Parma until 1622, and was then a preacher in various Italian cities. He was in Genoa for a time. He was for a time in the service of the Dukes of Mantua and of the Este in Ferrara. Ultimately he returned to the Jesuit college in Genoa where he taught mathematics. 8. Patronage: Court Patronage; Patronage of Ecclesiastic Offical; Service with the Gonzagas in Mantua and the Este in Ferrara. He dedicated the first book of his Meteorology to Carlo II, Duke of Mantua, the second book to Card. Spada, and the fourth book to Vincenzo Caraffa, General of the Jesuits. 9. Technological Connections: Hydraulics; He was employed by the Gonzaga on hydraulic projects. He differed with Castelli on the management of the Po at Ferrara. 10. Scientific Societies: He was a friend of Baliani and of Riccioli. SOURCES:
Not Available and Not Consulted:
Caius [Keys, Kees], John
The books at Gonville and Caius spell his name ten different ways. All end in the s sound; there is no foundation then for the sometimes offered Kay or Kaye. 1. Dates: Born: Norwich, 6 October
1510; Died: London, 29 July 1573. Datecode: Lifespan: 63
SOURCES:
Not Available and/or Not Consulted: John
L. Stender, 'Master Doctor Caius,' Bulletin of the History of Medicine,
8 (1940), 133-8. Paul Wohlfarth, 'Dr. Caius, a French Physician,' Sudhoff'sArchiv,
40 (1956), 97-105.
Campani, Giuseppe
1. Dates: Born: Castel San Felice (near Spoleto), 1635; Died: Rome, 28 July 1715; Datecode: Lifespan: 80; 2. Father: Peasant - Small Farmer; The only information is that Campani came from a peasant family. No information on financial status 3. Nationality: Birth: Italy; Career: Italy; Death: Italy 4. Education: Non; Campani had no university education. He followed his two brothers to Rome, where one was a cleric and the other a clockmaker. He learned clockmaking from his brother, essentially as an apprentice it would appear. He was friendly with the Jesuit Daniello Bartoli, and there is one report that he studied optics at the Collegio Romano. However, it is clear that he was never enrolled as a student there. 5. Religion: Catholic (assumed, from ample evidence). 6. Scientific Disciplines: Instruments; Subordinate Disciplines: Astronomy; Campani is known primarily for his optical instruments, primarily telescopes (for which he made the best composite eyepieces available and also lenses of longer focal length than any other optician), but also for microscopes. According to Bedini he was also a pioneer in the development of the pendulum clock. Campani, who was more than an illiterate artisan, also made some significant observations with his own instruments. 7. Means of Support: Instruments; Campani made outstanding instruments. A night clock that the two (or maybe even three) brothers made for Pope Alexander VII brought him into prominence in 1656. In 1663-4, he invented or developed a compound eyepiece that established him as the outstanding optician of the day. Later he was able to grind lenses of longer focal length than any other artisan of the age. He also made microscopes. There were claims that he also developed a lens grinding machine that could grind and polish lenses without the use of molds. Van Helden is convinced that such a machine never existed. 8. Patronage: Ecclesiastic Official; Court Patronage; Sci; The silent night clock, presented to Pope Alexander VII established his reputation. The Pope and his nephew, Card. Flavio Chigi, remained some of his most important patrons. His lenses and telescopes won the patronage of Ferdinand II of Tuscany and Prince Leopoldo. In a relation that remains unclear to me, Card. Antonio Barberini seems to have acted as sort of Campani's PR agent in Paris. Card. Barberini had the first Campani telescope sent out of Italy, and he showed it around in Paris to win favor for Campani. Early on, Cassini became convinced that Campani's telescopes were better than Divini's. All of Cassini's discoveries were made with Campani telescopes. Because of Cassini, Campani's telescopes equipped the Royal Observatory in Paris. Bedini also lists the Kings of Poland, Spain, and France, and the Landgrave of Hesse as Campani's patrons. 9. Technological Connections: Instruments; See above. Campani ground lenses of up to about 150 feet in focal length. And he designed mountings to hold them, so that they could be used. 10. Scientific Societies: SOURCES:
Not Available and Not Consulted: S.A.
Bedini, 'Die Todesuhr,'
Uhrmaker und Goldschmied, no. 12 (1956).
Campanella, Tommaso
1. Dates: Born: Stila (Calabria), 5 Sep. 1568; Died: Paris, 21 May 1639; Datecode: Lifespan: 71 2. Father: Geronimo Campanella, a cobbler. He was very poor. 3. Nationality: Birth: Italian; Career: Italy; French; Death: French 4. Education: Religious Orders; Campanella became a Dominican in 1583 (after a year's novitiate), partly because that was the only avenue by which an impoverished young man could obtain an education. He was sent to the monastery of the Annunciation in San Giorgio Morgeto, where he studied philosophy for three years, and then in 1586 to the monastery of the Annunication in Nicastro where he studied for two more years. After his early philosophical studies, based on Aristotle, Campanella moved to the Dominican house at Cosenza in 1588 to study theology. In Cosenza he discovered the philosophy of Telesio. By 1598 he had completed a general work in Telesio's defense. Campanella certainly had the equivalent of a B.A., although his education was entirely within the institutions of the Dominican order and was not in universities as such. However, Cosenza is called the Studio generale of the Dominicans in Calabria. 5. Religion: Catholic. Heterodox; In May 1592 (or perhaps 91) he was denounced to the Inquisition for heresy and was confined to the Convent of San Domenico (in Venice). Thus began a long series of imprisonments, trials, tortures, and other punishment that ended only with his release in 1629. In 1634 the Inquisition discovered yet another plot in Naples by one of Campanella's followers and Campanella was implicated. He fled Rome before he could be arrested. Perhaps it is wrong to list him as heterodox. Campanella always considered himself a Catholic. Nevertheless, he was in trouble with the Inquisition through virtually his entire life. 6. Scientific Disciplines: Natural Philosophy; Occult Philosophy; Subordinate Disciplines: Astronomy; Astrology. Campanella's writings encompass a very broad range of scientific topics, and he was one of the important systematizers of the 17th century. His importance in the history of science was through his animistic, yet empirical, interpretation of the world, which influenced a number of contemporaries and successors. His published works include De sensu rerum et magia (1620), Astrologicorum libri VII (1629), and Civitas solis, which perhaps his best known work. He was a defender of Galileo. 7. Means of Support: Church Living; Patronage; Secondary Means of Support: Schoolmaster; He entered the Dominican order in 1582. In 89 or 90 he left the monastery in Cosenza for Naples and later Florence and Padua. In Padua he lived from the lessons he gave. He was in prison almost continuously from 1592 to 1629, first with the Inquisition, then with the Spanish authorities in Naples, and from 1626 to 29 with the Inquisition in Rome. I do not know how to categorize the long imprisonment, and on the whole I am simply ignoring it since there is no other similar case. (Alas, Bruno.) In Naples he frequently complained of the low amount allotted for his sustenance. In 1627 the Inquisition allowed him a stipend of 120 scudi to support him in its prison. When he was freed in 1629, the stipend was increased to 180 scudi. In Rome, 1529-1534. After he fled Rome, he stayed in Aix-en-Provence, where he was received by Peiresc and Gassedi, for a few months. He arrived Paris in 1635, and stayed in France for the rest of his life. In France Campanella was given a pension, which however, was not always paid. 8. Patronage: Aristocratic Patronage; Court Patronage; Government Official; Sci; In Calabria, Campanella met the del Tufo family, the local feudal lords. In Naples he lived with Mario del Tufo, clearly as his client. To him Campanella dedicated Philosophia sensibus demonstrata (composed in 1591). Later he dedicated another composition to del Tufo. When he fled Naples, Campanella went to Florence where he dedicated a composition to the Grand Duke. He received a gift of money but not the university position for which he hoped. However, the influence of the Grand Duke apparently won Campanella's release in 1592 from his first imprisonment. In 1595 Campanella, who had been concerned almost entirely with natural philosophy, began to write on the authority of the Church and on the role of the Spanish monarchy. Blanchet suggests that he owed his temporary liberation in 1595, despite the very serious charges against him before the Inquisition, to Lelio Orsini, who was influential in Rome, to the Emperor Rudolf, and to Maximilian, Duke of Bavaria. As Blanchet says, once the possibility of an academic appointment in Tuscany was closed to him, Campanella had to turn to other potential patrons and to compose works that would appeal to them. The political conspiracy in Calabria in 1599, which landed him in jail for the next thirty years, had the patronage of the Marquis of Arena, Scipione Concublet. While he was in prison, Campanella addressed his plans for the reformation of Church and society to the likes of the Pope, various Cardinals, the King of Spain, the Archduke of Styria, and Maximilian of Bavaria, dedicating the compositions to them of course. In many ways these futile appeals are the most revealing; Campanella did have a clear perception of the organization of power in society, and however wild his schemes, and however unlikely the status quo was to institute them, he addressed them to those in charge. Thus in 1618 he proposed to Pope Paul V the publication of a two volume collection of Christian apologetics, to be dedicated to Paul of course. In 1616 Pedro Giron, Duke d'Osuna, became the viceroy of Naples. He was fascinated with Campanella from the beginning. Soon after he arrived in the realm, he arranged an interview with Campanella, and soon he eased considerably the rigor of the conditions of imprisonment. Although Osuna temporarily rescinded these measures, Campanella did regain his favor. During the final eight years of imprisonment in Naples, Campanella lived under relatively humane conditions instituted by Osuna. Gaspard Schopp, a Catholic champion in Germany, became convinced of Campanella's importance and did much to aid his cause during the long imprisonment. He got Ferdinand of Styria (later the Emp. Ferdinand II) interested in Campanella's cause, and Ferdinand intervened several times on his behalf. The more lenient circumstances of the imprisonment apparently followed these interventions, which may thus have had a role in Osuna's actions. Obviously the Holy Office had a hand in permitting the more lenient treatment, and Ferdinand's interventions may have helped there. When Campanella was moved to Rome in 1626, he learned of Urban's ill health and of his fear of astrological predictions of his imminent death. Campanella immediately played on this, insisting on his own knowledge of astrology and winning the favor of the Pope. Campanella composed an astrological refutation of Urban's near death, and he even composed a long commentary on Urban's poetry. Urban was clearly responsible for his release in 1629, although he became disillusioned with Campanella soon thereafter. In 1629, after his liberation, Campanella was allowed to publish Quod reminiscentur, which he dedicated to Urban. Recall that he was living at this time on a pension from the Church. In 1631, at the request of Jean de Brassac, the French ambassador to Rome, he composed an exposition of Chapter 9 of Paul's Epistle to the Romans, to expound his view of predestination. In the early 30's the French intellectual Naudé was instrumental in gaining recognition and support for Campanella among the learned and the powerful in France. When Campanella was implicated (apparently unjustly) in a new conspiracy in Naples in 1634, the French ambassador (now Noailles) helped him to escape to France. Peiresc and Gassedi enthusiastically received him when he reached Aix-en-Provence, where he stayed for a few months as Peiresc's guest, in November 1634. When he arrived in Paris in 1635, Cardinal Richeieu came to his aid and helped him in various ways for the rest of his life. He was also received at the court of Louis XIII. He was called in to compose the horoscope of the infant Louis XIV, and he composed a poem in honor of the birth. Campanella dedicated his Philosophia rationalis to the two Noailles brothers. He composed political writings now which abandoned his former support of Spain and the Hapsburgs and favored France. He dedicated a volume to Louis XIII, the second edition of De sensu rerum to Richelieu (who gave him a gift of one hundred coins), a new edition of Philosophia realis to Pierre Seguier, the Chancellor of France, the Metaphysics (1638) to Claude Bullion de Bonolles, the minister of finance. It appears, however, that although Campanella gained enough to live, he did not exactly thrive in Paris, where he lived out the rest of his life. 9. Technological Connections: None 10. Scientific Societies: In 1589 Campanella went to Naples, where he met Giambattista della Porta and a Jewish astrologer named Abraham. He became active in della Porta's group, participating in its protoexperimentalism. Through Abraham he became acquainted with the astrological and pseudo-scientific traditions, which were important factors in his later thought. I have indicated something of his correspondence above, which was not primarily with other members of the scientific community. However, he did correspond with Galileo, as is well known. SOURCES:
Not Available and/or Not Consulted: L.Amabile,
Fra
Tommaso Campanella, la sua congiuria, i suoi processi e la sua pazzia,
3vols., Naples, 1882. (2vols, Naples,1887. B785 .C24A47) This is clearly
the most detailed account of Campanella. It was clear that Firpos's outstanding
account in the DBI and Blanchet's drew directly on Amabile, so that I did
not try to digest such a lengthy work.
Camerarius (Camerer), Rudolf
Jakob
1. Dates: Born: Tübingen, Germany, 12 February 1665; Died: Tübingen, Germany, 11 Sep 1721 2. Father: a professor of medicine; I assume that all such are at least prosperous. 3. Nationality: Birth: German; Career: German; Death: German 4. Education: University of Tübingen; M.A., M.D. Tübingen university: studied philosophy and medicine. BA 1679, MA 1682, (Studienreise 1685-7), MD 1687. 5. Scientific Disciplines: botany; Subordinate Disciplines: medicine 6. Religion: Lutheran (assumed) 7. Means of Support: Academic position; 1688, appointed extraordinary professor of medicine and director of botanical garden at Tübingen. 1689-95, Professor of physik. 1695, father died, C. succeeded him as full professor and first professor of the University; when he died in 1721, his son succeeded him. 8. Patronage: Court Patronage; The family succession in the university is inconceivable without the patronage of the ruling family of Wurtemberg. As I find further, it was a literal academic dynasty-every generation and every in-law. 9. Technological Connections: Medicine 10. Scientific Societies: Informal: corresponded with Michael Bernhard Valentini, a professor at Giessen. SOURCES:
Not Available and/or Not Consulted:
Hirsch,
Biographisches Lexikon ..., 1, (1929), 808-809, and
supp. (1935) 155. World Who's Who in Science, Chicago, 1968, p.
291. Alexander Camerarius, 'Memoria Camerariana comprehendens programma
funebre B. Rud. Jac. Camerarii,' in Acta physico-medica exhibentia ephemerides,
1,
(1727), pp. 165-83. L. W. O. Camerer and J. F. W. Camerer, Geschichte
der Tübinger Familie Camerer 1503 - 1903, (Tübingen, 1903).
Canano [Canani, Cannano], Giovanni
Battista
1. Dates: Born: Ferrara, 1515; Died: Ferrara, 29 January 1579; Datecode: Lifespan: 64 2. Father: Lawyer; His father, Ludovico Canano, was a notary. His grandfather was lecturer in medicine at Ferrara and physician at court. The family came to Italy from Greece in the 15th century. No information on financial status 3. Nationality: Birth: Italy; Career: Italy, France; Death: Italy 4. Education: Fer; MD, Ph.D. Canano matriculated at the University of Ferrara in 1534, and graduated (i.e., a doctorate) in philosophy and medicine in 1543. While he was at the university, Canano, together with his cousin Anton Maria Canano, held an anatomical academy in their home which was attended by the leading physicians of the city and even by the Duke. 5. Religion: Catholic. His brother was a Cardinal. 6. Scientific Disciplines: Anatomy; Subordinate Disciplines: Surgery; His only published work was Musculorum humani corporis picturata dissectio, c. 1543, a small book but of outstanding importance for its originality. Based exclusively on direct observation of structures of the human body and of living animals, the Picturata dissectio contained the first anatomical drawings of the lumbricales and of the interossei of the hand, and the first description and drawing of the short palmar muscle and of the oblique head of the adductor pollicis, which Vesalius did not observe and which was unknown to Galen. Another important contribution by Canano was the observation of the valves of the deep veins, and the assertion that they serve to prevent the reflux of the blood. His book on muscles was intended as the first volume of a major work on the whole of anatomy, but Vesalius' De fabrica forestalled him 7. Means of Support: Academic; Patronage; Secondary Means of Support: Government Official; Medical Practioner; Lecturer in practical medicine and in surgery at the University of Ferrara, 1543-1552. Ducceschi says that the appointment began in 1541. He was also medical attendant on the Este family. Physician to Francesco d'Este in France, 1544. Physician to Pope Julius III, 1552-1555. The Pope loaded him with the fruits of ecclesiastical benefices. Chief physician of the Este principality, 1555-1579, that is, physician to the Este and protomedico of the state. He was also professor of anatomy at the university. He was held in sufficient regard that in 1576 he was exempted from all taxes. 8. Patronage: Court Patronage; Ecclesiastic Official; Aristocratic Patronage; The Este. See above. Pope Juluis III. See above. He dedicated his Picturata dissectio to Bartolomeo Nigrisoli, a Ferrarese patrician and professor at the university. 9. Technological Connections: Medicine; Int. He invented instruments for certain surgeries 10. Scientific Societies: Medical College (Any One); He received several visits from Andreas Vesalius in his home in 1540, and when he met Vesalius again in 1544 he told him about his observation of the valves of deep veins. He was Prior of the Medical College of Ferrara. SOURCES:
Not Available and Not Consulted: G. Muratori
and D. Bighi, 'A. Vesalio, G.B. Canano e la rivoluzione rinascimentale
dell'anatomia e della medicina' in Acta medicae historiae patavina,
10
(1964), pp.51-95. G. Muratori and A. Franceschini, 'Nuovi documenti riguardanti
l'attivita dell'anatomico ferrarese G.B. Canano', in Atti e memorie
Deputazione provinciale ferrarese di storia patria, 3, (1966),
pp.89-132. Note that Muratori wrote the article on Canano, which postdates
both of these articles, in DBI.
Capra, Baldassar
1. Dates: Born: Italy, 1580; Died: Italy, 1626; Datecode: Birth Date Uncertain; Lifespan: 46 2. Father: an aristocrat; He was the son of Count Marco Aurelio Capra (whose financial situation was anything but solid). A member of a noble family (a count according to Poggendorff), which included Galeazzo Capra, secretary and historian to Duke Francesco II, last Sforza of Milan. Clearly stated that he was rather poor 3. Nationality: Birth: Italy; Career: Italy; Death: Italy 4. Education: University of Padua; M.D. Studied under Simon Mayr (Marius) at Padua, received his degree in medicine. I assume B.A. 5. Religion: Catholic (assumed) 6. Scientific Disciplines: Astronomy, Astrology 7. Means of Support: Medical practice; A practicing doctor (Poggendorff Biographische Woerterbuch zur Geschichte der Exacten Wissenschaften, p. 374 [ref. Z7404.P72 v.1].) 8. Patronage: None Known; Anti-Patronage? At the end of 1620, when he asked to register at the medical college in Milan, he was energeticly opposed by Lodovico Settala because of his behavior against Galileo. 9. Technological Connections: Practiced Medicine. 10. Scientific Societies: None known. SOURCES:
Caramuel y Lobkowitz, Juan
1. Dates: Born: Spain, 23 May 1606; Died: Italy, 7 September 1682. Datecode: Lifespan: 76 2. Father: an engineer; No information on financial status 3. Nationality: Birth: Spanish; Career: Belgium was where most of his scientific work was done; he went on to Austria, and for his last thirty years to Italy. Death: Italy 4. Education: University of Alcala; University of Salamanca; Lou, D.D. Studied at Univs of Alcala and Salamanca. B.A. at Alcala; D.D. Louvain 1638 5. Religion: Catholic 6. Scientific Disciplines: Mathematics, Astronomy; Subordinate Disciplines: Physics, Natural Philosophy 7. Means of Support: Academic; Church Living; Patronage; Taught at Louvain until he left the Low countries; Planned the defenses of Louvain against Prince of Orange in 35; also wrote on military engineering. This won attention of the Hapsburgs both in Low Countries and in Prague. Dedicated books to Cardinal-Infante who governed Low Countries; became court preacher; Also won favor and assitance of Marie de' Medici, then in exile in Low Countries. Published books defending rights of King of Spain to rule Portugal. Won favor of Papal Nuncio, Card. Chigi (who later became Alexander VII). In 45, disappointed at failures to gain sufficient position in Low Countries, to Prague. Wholly in service of Ferdinand III; got several ecclesiastical appointments. He quickly became prominent in the imperial court. Further aided by heroic actions at seige of Prague. In 55, when old patron Chigi became Pope, to Rome. In Italy he obtained successively two minor bishoprics. The second of the bishoprics, Vigevano near Milan, he owed to the intervention of the Hapsburgs. 8. Patronage: Court, Ecclesiastical officials; Caramuel would be a great study for patronage. He was pursuing it all his life but never quite getting all he wanted. He won the favor of the Hapsburgs and of Chigi, but clearly Chigi also though that he was a bit crazy, as indeed he was. Pastine has quite a bit of detail and references to sources one could pursue. 9. Technological Connections: Military Engineering, Navigation. In regard to latter, developed a system to determine longitude via lunar position. 10. Scientific Societies: In; Attended Accademia degli Investiganti, dedicated to the study of physical nature through experimentation, in Naples while Bishop of Campania SOURCES:
Carcavi [Carcavy], Pierre de
1. Dates: Born: Lyon, c. 1600 (Index says c. 1603); Died: Paris, April 1684; Datecode: Birth Date Uncertain; Lifespan: 84 2. Father: Merchant; His father was a banker. Carcavi had enough wealth to purchase an office of counsellor in the Grand Conseil in Paris in 1636. Later he had to sell it to pay his father's debts, but I do not see how to doubt that he grew up in circumstances at least affluent. 3. Nationality: Birth: French; Career: French; Death: French 4. Education: Non 5. Religion: Catholic. 6. Scientific Disciplines: Mathematics. 7. Means of Support: Government Official; Personal Means; Patronage; Counsellor of the Parlement of Toulouse, 1632-1636. Member of the Grand Conseil at Paris, 1636-1648. (He bought the office in 1636, and was forced to sell it in order to pay his father's debts in 1648.); Served the Duke of Liancourt, 1648-1663. Classified Colbert's library, 1663. Custodian of the Royal Library, 1663-1683. Member of the Académie from 1666 until death. 8. Patronage: Aristocratic Patronage; Court Patronage; Patronage of Government Official; Duke of Liancourt. He was in the service of the Duke for 15 years (1648-1663). Colbert in 1663 charged him with the classification of his library and made him custodian of the Royal library. Amable de Bourzeis, a protegé of the Duke of Liancourt, presented him to Colbert. 9. Technological Connections: Cartography; In 1668, Colbert charged Carcavi, along with Huygens, Roberval, Auzout, Picard, and Gallois, to judge the feasibility of the method to determine longitude submitted to the Academy by a German noble. 10. Scientific Societies: Académie royale des sciences (Paris); 1666-1684. He had many friends, including Huygens, Fermat, and Pascal, and carried on an extensive correspondence. He was probably the first to recognize Fermat's extraordinary scientific abilities. His friendship with Fermat began from 1632 when both were members of the Parlement of Toulouse. After Carcavi went to Paris, Fermat sent him many treatises. In 1650, Fermat sent Carcavi a treatise entitled Novus secundarum et ulterioris radicum in analyticis usus, which contained the first known method of elimination, and asked Pascal and Carcavi to publish his paper. Carcavi tried very hard, through Huygens, to publish this paper and his collection of Fermat's papers, but failed. After the death of Mersenne in 1648, Carcavi offered Mersenne's correspondence to Descartes. In 1649 he informed Descartes of the publication of Pascal's barometer experiments and also of Roberval's objections to his Geometrie. He was also a friend of Pascal, who gave him his calculating machine. When in 1658 Pascal sent all mathematicians a challenge, he lodged the prizes and his own solutions with Carcavi, who, with Roberval, was to act as a judge. SOURCES:
Not Consulted: Carcavi's letters can be
found in the collections of the correspondence of Galileo, Mersenne, Torricelli,
Descartes, Fermat, Pascal, and Huygens.
Cardano, Girolamo
1. Dates: Born: Pavia, 24 September 1501; Died: Rome, 21 September 1576; Datecode: Lifespan: 75 2. Father: Law; His father was a jurist of considerable learning, a friend of Leonardo da Vinci. He is said to have been of noble descent, but I gathered that the line was so attentuated as hardly to exist. Cardano was born out of wedlock, and the father, who did eventually marry the mother, did not live with the family until Cardano was seven. While not poor, the family hardly seems to have been wealthy-more affluent than poor, however. 3. Nationality: Birth: Italy; Career: Italy; Death: Italy 4. Education: University of Pavia; M.D. University of Padua; Cardano began his university studies in 1518 at Pavia and completed his B.A. at Padua. He returned to Pavia for the M.D. in 1526. 5. Religion: Catholic. In 1570 he was imprisoned for a few months by the Inquisition. He was accused of heresy, Particularly for having cast the horoscope of Christ and having attrbuted the events of His life to the influence of the stars. He was sentenced to abjuration and agreed to give up teaching. 6. Scientific Disciplines: Mathematics; Medicine; Occult Philosophy; Subordinate Disciplines: Astrology; Physics; . Cardano wrote more than 200 works on medicine, mathematics, physics, philosophy, religion, and music. His fame rested on his contributions to mathematics. His major work in mathematics was the Ars magna, in which many new ideas in algebra were systematically presented. Among them are Cardano's rule and the linear transformations that eliminate the second degree terms in a complete cubic equation. De subtilitate, 1550, created a big stir. De astrorum iudiciis, 1554, contained a horoscope of Christ. His chief claim to fame in mechanics was his affirmation of the impossibility of perpetual motion, except in heavenly bodies. In his Opus novum de proportionibus, Cardano tried to apply quantitative methods to the study of physics. He also made important contributions to hydrodynamics. 7. Means of Support: Medicine; Academic; Patronage; Secondary Means of Support: Schoolmaster; Already in 1521-2 he was substituting for professors in Pavia, in geometry, philosophy, and medicine. His father died in 1524, leaving him a house and some inheritance. Practiced medicine in Saccolongo, a small town near Padua, 1526-1532. He was aided in these years by Francesco Buonafede, a physician. According to Bellini, he went to Milan in 1532, and early in 1534 to Gallarate, a nearby village, to practice medicine, but he did poorly. He was rebuffed by the College of Medicine in Milan because of his illegitimate birth. Capparoni has a slightly different account of the early years. Unable to establish himself in Milan, Cardano lived poorly in Pieve del Sacco and Gallarate practicing medicine until 1534, then to Milan to teach mathematics. He also taught medicine in Milan. In 1535 he became physician to the Augustine Friars. Teacher of mathematics in the Piattine schools of Milan, 1534-36, and practiced medicine. Once he was able to practice, Cardano apparently quickly won reputation. The cure of a Borromeo helped greatly. 1537, physician to Senator Sfrondati, treating among others the future Pope, Sfrondati's son. In the period 1540-42 he was winning a gold piece every day in gambling with Antonio Vimercati, a Milanese patrician. Professor of medicine at Pavia, 1543-51 and 1559-60. His salary was 240 gold crowns initially, and was raised to 400 in 1547. In Milan during the 1550's, when he was famous from his publications, Cardano gave private lessons in medicine. Professor of medicine at the University of Bologna, 1562-70 with a salary of 800 scudi. In Bologna, all of the 'best' citizens were his patients, and he was called for consultations by such people as Cardinal Morone in Modena and the Gonzagas in Mantua. Received a lifetime annuity from Pope Gregory XIII in 1573 after Pius V refused. Cardano, who had left both Pavia and Bologna under heavy clouds, stayed in Rome for the rest of his life. It appears that he was still practicing medicine some in these final years. 8. Patronage: Ecclesiastic Official; Aristocratic Patronage; Patronage of Government Official; Senator Filippo Archinto, who I gather was a friend of Cardano's father, obtained the appointment for him as a teacher of mathematics in the Piattine school, and perhaps also the appointment as physician to the Augustin Friars. Cardano dedicated a work on medicine to him. Cardano effected a cure of a member of the Borromeo family and won their protection. Likewise for a son (the future Pope) of Senator Sfrondati. Senator Sfrondati and other friends forced his entrance into the Milanese College of Physicians. Cardinal Borromeo helped Cardano to get the chair in Bologna. Before this, already about 1536, Cardano was offered a chance to enter the service of Pope Paul III. In the late 30's, Cardano won the favor of the Marquis D'Avalos, an important figure in Milan. I think he may have been the governor of Milan. About 1536 Cardano had the chance to enter the service of Charles de Cossé, the lieutenant (in northern Italy, during the wars) of the King of France. About 1550 another offer from the Pope and one from the King of Denmark, both of which Cardano refused. The King of Denmark offered him 800 crowns annually plus living expenses for himself and five servants and forage for three horses. Cardano refused because of the cold northern climate and because Denmark was not Catholic. In 1552, he did accept the offer of the Archbishop of Edinburgh, John Hamilton, who suffered from asthma. He journeyed to Edinburgh, where he stayed for two and a half months and did effect a cure. Beyond expenses for the trip, Cardano received 400 gold crowns. a necklace worth 120 crowns, and many gifts. All along the voyage to and from Scotland, Cardano was greeted by the learned, who knew his reputation from his books. There were offers from the King of France, from Charles V, and from the Queen of Scotland. The Duke of Mantua (Gonzaga) offered him a stipend of 3000 crowns. Note that Cardano's mathematical work, Practica arithmetice, 1539, had won him a reputation throughout Europe, and this undoubtedly influenced the various offers above. Luidi Birago, a Milanese soldier in French service, wanted Cardano to enter the service of the French Viceroi (in northern Italy), Charles de Cossé, not as a physician, but as a military engineer-all because of Cardano's publications in mathematics. When things began to go sour in Bologna, Cardinals Morone, Cesi, Mandruzzo, and Amulio were Cardano's protectors. They urged him to give up the professorhip, to leave Bologna, and to place himself under the protection of the Papacy, which Cardano did in 1571. Pius V would have none of him; he had just been found guilty by the Inquisition. However, Gregory XIII, a general patron of learning (see Bellini, p. 271), soon succeeded Pius, and at the beginning of 1573 he gave Cardano a pension sufficient to maintain him. Recall that Gregory is also the one who insisted that Borro be freed from the dungeons of the Inquisition despite his obvious heterodoxy. Cardono dedicated his Practica arithmetice (1539) to the Prior of Sant-Ambrogio, Francesco Gaddi. 9. Technological Connections: Medicine; Int. I hardly know how to classify the Cardano suspension. It is the set of three concentric rings, able to rotate in three perpendicular planes, that one sees supporting globes (what we call gimbels). 10. Scientific Societies: Medical College (Any One); The medical colleges of both Milan and Rome. SOURCES:
Not Consulted: Henry Morley, The Life
of Girolamo Cardano of Milan, Physician, 2 vols. (London, 1854). O.
Ore, Cardano, the Gambling Scholar, (Princeton, 1953).
Casal Julian, Gaspar R. F. N.
1. Dates: Born: 31 December 1680; Died: 10 August 1759; Datecode: Lifespan: 79 2. Father: No Information; No information on financial status 3. Nationality: Birth: Spanish; Career: Spanish; Death: Spanish 4. Education: Sig; Somewhat late (1713) he earned a B.A. from the University of Siguenza. There is no record of his study of medicine at a university. Lopez Pineiro says that he did earn an M.D. Canella appears to think he had to have one for the positions he held, but has no evidence. Otherwise authorities seem agreed that he learned medicine by apprenticeship to an apothecary. 5. Religion: Catholic 6. Scientific Disciplines: Medicine; Subordinate Disciplines: Natural History; Casal Julian wrote a natural and medical history of Asturias, a major work. 7. Means of Support: Medical practice; Secondary Means of Support: Governmental position, Patronage; After his B.A., Casal Julian practiced successfully in Madrid until 1717, including members of the court in his practice. He left for Oviedo, Asturias, in 1717 because Madrid did not agree with him. In Oviedo he built a great reputation. In 1720, the Duke of Parque secured his appointment as the city's physician. Later he was physician to local hospitals. Returned to Madrid in 1752 as physician to the Chamber of Ferdinand VI (i.e, physician to the court). He received a salary of 60,000 reals. He was appointed Protomedico of Castile. (I gather from Canella that there was a board of three Protomedicos who licensed physicians in the province.) 8. Patronage: Court and Aristocracy 9. Technological Connections: Medical practice 10. Scientific Societies: Medical College (Any One); Member of the Royal Academy of Medicine SOURCES:
Casseri [Casserio], Giulio
1. Dates: Born: Piacenza, ca. 1552; Died: Padua, 8 March 1616; Datecode: Birth Date Uncertain; Lifespan: 64 2. Father: Unknown; Luca Casseri, humble and quite poor. 3. Nationality: Birth: Italy; Career: Italy; Death: Italy 4. Education: University of Padua; M.D., Ph.D. Enrolled in the Facolta Artista and received his doctorate in medicine and philosophy at Padua in 1580. He studied with Fabrizio and Mercuriale. He probably went to Padua as the servant of a wealthy student. In Padua he became the servant of Fabrizio, whom he assisted in dissections. 5. Religion: Catholic. 6. Scientific Disciplines: Anatomy; Subordinate Disciplines: Physiology; Embryology; His achievemens are collected in three anatomical works: De vocis auditusque organis historia anatomica (Ferrara, 1600-1601), Pentaestheseion, hoc est de quinque sensibus liber (Venice, 1609), and Tabulae anatomicae LXXIIX, omnes nec ante hac visae (Venice,1627). He left important illustrations of the formation of the foetus. 7. Means of Support: Medical Practioner; Secondary Means of Support: Schoolmaster; Academic; Medical prectice in Padua, 1580-1616, from which he amassed a fortune. Public lecturer in surgery, 1609-1616; Lecturer in anatomy, 1614-1616; Early, after his degree, Casseri gave private lessons, with dissections, in Padua, until 1586. As Fabrizio began to decline with age and suspended his lectures in 95, the students urged Casseri to replace him, which he did (privately) with enough success that Fabrizio resumed lectures. I gather that from about this time Fabrizio's envy of Casseri mounted and changed into hostility. The students wanted Casseri and privately supplied him with cadavers for dissection. Fabrizio continued to get legal prohibitions of the private dissections, and when he finally could lecture no more he blocked Casseri's appointment to replace him. Capparoni says that in 1604 the Riformatori officially approved Casseri as a substitute for Fabrizio when he was unable to lecture. Finally in 1609 the Riformatori separated surgery from anatomy, reserved anatomy to Fabrizio, and appointed Casseri to the chair in surgery. Eventually he did succeed Fabrizio, even though Fabrizio was still alive. The rivalry blocked the publication of Casseri's Tabulae during his life (Fabrizio outliving him). 8. Patronage: Scientist, City Magistrate; Court Patronage; He served Girolamo Fabrizio, public lecturer in anatomy and surgery at the University of Padua, from 1565, in performing dissections. At that time Fabrizio encouraged Casseri's talent. As Casseri became an indepedent and rival authority, the two fell into conflict. Venice made Casseri a knight of San Marco. Casseri refused offers to leave Padua for Turin and Parma. However, he did dedicate De vocis to the Duke of Parma. I assume that this is what lead to the offer. 9. Technological Connections: Medical Practioner; 10. Scientific Societies: SOURCES:
Not Available and Not Consulted: D.Bertelli,
'Giulio Casseri da servo a professore universitario', in Settimo centenario
della Universita di Padova, Padua, 1922, pp.9-10. A. Portal,
Histoire
de l'anatomie et de la chirurgie, (Paris, 1770), 2, 229-36.
Cassegrain
1. Dates: fl. 1672; Datecode: flourished (two dates give known period); Lifespan: 2. Father: No Information; No information on financial status. 3. Nationality: Birth: Un; Career: France; Death: Un 4. Education: Non 5. Religion: Unknown; 6. Scientific Disciplines: Physics, Optics; Cassegrain's appearance on the scientific scene was occasioned by a memoir on the megaphone published in February 1672. Having his own thoughts on the subject, he submitted them to the Paris Academy of Sciences. His fame rested on his design of a reflecting telescope. 7. Means of Support: Unknown; One tradition credits him with a professorship of physics at the College de Chartres; another identifies him with a man who served Louis XIV as a sculptor and founder. 8. Patronage: None Known; 9. Technological Connections: Instruments; He conceived the arrangement of telescope mirrors that bears his name. The real virtue of his design-partial concellation of the spherical aberration introduced by the two mirrors-was established by Ramsden a century later. 10. Scientific Societies: SOURCES:
Cassini, Gian Domenico [Cassini
I]
1. Dates: Born: Italy, 1625; Died: France, 1712; Datecode: Lifespan: 87 2. Father: No Information; No information on financial status 3. Nationality: Birth: Italy; Career: Italy, France; Death: France 4. Education: None Known; Studied at Vallebone, then at Jesuit college in Genoa and at abbey of San Fructuoso. Later tutored by Jesuits Giovan Battista Riccioli and Francesco Maria Grimaldi. I gather there was no university and no B.A. 5. Religion: Catholic (assumed). 6. Scientific Disciplines: astronomy; Subordinate Disciplines: optics, hydraulics, cartography 7. Means of Support: Academic, governmental position, personal (see his marriage listed under patronage). Secondary Means of Support: Patronage; 1648-69, observed at Panzano Observatory. 1650, Professor of Astronomy at Bologna. 1669-, supported by Académie des Sciences at the Paris Observatory. 8. Patronage: Aristocracy, Court, Ecclesiastical; The Marquis Cornelio Malvasia, senator of Bologna, an amateur astronomer who calcualted ephemerides for astrological purposes, invited Cassini to work at his observatory at Panzano, because of the latter's great knowledge of, though not belief in, astrology. 1650, the senate of Bologna, at Malvasia's instigation, designated Cassini to chair at Bologna. Dedicated his work on the comet of 1652-3 to the Duke of Modena. Dedicated his Specimen observationum Bononiensium... (1656) to Queen Christina of Sweden, then in exile in Italy. Later he dedicated another book, on the comet of 1664-5, to her also. Turned down request of Pope to take holy orders, see 8. But he had other favors from the Pope. 1667, Colbert offered Cassini membership as regular correspondent of the Academie Royale des Sciences. 1668, Colbert suggested to Cassini that he come to Paris for a limited period to set up the Paris Observatory. He offered, and Cassini accepted, 9000 livres salary, free lodging, and 1000 ecus travel allowance. The senate of Bologna and the Pope authorized the trip, and continued their salaries, presumably only for the year he was supposed to be away. He never returned, became a French citzen in 1673. Married Genevieve de Laistre, daughter of the lieutenant general of the compte of Clermont, whose valuable dowry of landholdings included the chateau de Thury in the Oise. 9. Technological Connections: Hydaulics, Civil engineering, Military engineering, cartography; An official expert during the negotiations between Bologna and Ferrara on the flooding of the Po. He composed several memoires on the flooding and how to avoid it. 1663, named by the pope as superintendent of the fortifications 'du fort d'Urbain.'; 1663, defended views of the papal authorities before the Grand Duke of Tuscany in the controversy regarding the regularization of the Chiana river. 1665, returned for the same purpose with the title of Superintendent of the waters of the ecclesiastical states. While in Rome he reinforced a bridge across the Tiber. Deeply involved in French mapping endeavors. 10. Scientific Societies: Académie royale des sciences (Paris); Member of the Académie des Sciences, participated in certain meetings of the Accademia del Cimento. SOURCES:
Cassini, Jacques [Cassini II]
1. Dates: Born: Paris, 18 February 1677; Died: Thury, Oise, 15 April 1756; Datecode: Lifespan: 79 2. Father: Scientist; Cassini was the son of Jean Dominique Cassini and Genevieve de Laistre. His father was a greatly esteemed astronomer, head of the Paris observatory, an academicien, and active in the cartographical projects of France. It is clear that Jean Dominique Cassini became wealthy as the head of the observatory. 3. Nationality: Birth: France; Career: France; Death: France 4. Education: None Known; Began his studies at Family's home in Paris observatory. Entered the College Mazarin. 1691, defended a thesis in optics under Varignon. Fontenelle wrote that Cassini, at the age of fifteen, dedicated a mathematical thesis to the Duc de Bourgogne. Probably his thesis in optics is meant. 1694, admitted as a student to the Académie des Sciences. There is no record of any university or standard academic degree. 5. Religion: Catholic (assumed). 6. Scientific Disciplines: Astronomy, Cartography. Subordinate Disciplines: Electricity; Physics; Optics; He travelled with his father through Italy, Flanders, the Netherlands, and England making numerous geodesic measurements as well as several astronomical observations. He presented a new method for the determination of longitudes by means of the eclipses of the stars and planets by the moon. In 1713 he took the position supporting the hypothesis of the elongation of the terrestrial ellipsoid. In his work, De la grandeur et de la figure de la terre (1722), he presented information confirming his hypothesis. In 1733-34 he undertook the determination of the perpendicular to the meridian of Paris from Saint-Malo to Strasbourg in order to defend his views against those of Desaguliers, Maupertuis, and Poleni. In astronomy Cassini's primary interests were the study of planets and their satellites, the observation and theory of comets, and the tides. Cassini fought continually to defend the work of his father and to reconcile the facts of observation with the theory of vortices. The improvements of instruments and the appearance of new methods were not used to their full extent by this timid Copernican and convinced Cartesian. He gave papers to the Academie on electricity, the recoil of firearms, barometers, and burning mirrors. 7. Means of Support: Government Position; 1699, became an associate in the Académie. 1706, named maitre ordinaire of the chambre des comptes, despite only modest legal training. Before 1710, took over from his father as head of Paris Observatory. 1712, suceeded his father as pensionaire of the Académie. Ten years before his death he became pensionnaire veteran at the Académie. 1716, designated magistrate of the cour de justice, he necessarily obtained title of advocat. 1722, awarded title of consieller d'etat. 8. Patronage: Court Patronage; The details of patronage which led to distinctions above are not clear, but cannot, it seems, be independant from his father's position in the Académie and the Paris Observatory. 9. Technological Connections: Cartography; Instruments; Worked with his father (1700-1701) and himself later finished the measurement of the arc of the meridian through Paris. As an astronomer he improved instruments; especially important was a new micrometer. After 1740 he collaborated with his son, Cassini de Thury (Cassini III) on a map of France. 10. Scientific Societies: Académie royale des sciences (Paris); Royal Society (London); Berlin Academy; Instit. Bologna; . Member of the Académie (1694-1756)-Associate, 1699; Pensionnaire, 1712. While on his travels with his father he met Newton, Flamsteed, and Halley and became a member of the Royal Society, c. 1698. SOURCES:
Castelli, Benedetto
1. Dates: Born: Brescia, 1577 (or possibly 1578); Died: Rome, 9 April 1643; Datecode: Birth Date Uncertain; Lifespan: 66 2. Father: Aristocrat; Annibale Castelli was from an aristocratic family. No information on financial status 3. Nationality: Birth: Italy; Career: Italy; Death: Italy 4. Education: University of Padua; Studied under Galileo in Padua. There is no mention of a B.A. 5. Religion: Catholic, a Benedictine 6. Scientific Disciplines: Astronomy, hydraulics, physics; Subordinate Disciplines: Optics, Mathematics 7. Means of Support: Church Living; Academic; Patronage; Secondary Means of Support: Schoolmaster; 1595, entered Benedictine order, took name of `Benedetto'. Before 1604, moved to the monastery of Santa Giustina, Padua. 1607, monastery of Cava dei Tirreni. By 1610, had returned to native city of Brescia. 1611, moved to Florence, where he stayed in the Badia, which I think was a Jesuit monastery. He gave private lessons in Florence. 1613, Professor of Mathematics at Pisa. Confirmed for life, 1624. Resigned, 1626. 1626, Professor of Mathematics at Rome. He also instructed Taddeo Barberini. He continued to hold ecclesiastical positions. In 1632 he became Abbot of a monastery; ultimately he was abbot of four monasteries, none of which he actually governed. 8. Patronage: scientist, court, ecclesiastical official; 1610, upon receiving copy of Siderius Nuncius from Galileo, his former teacher, he requested and was granted transfer to Florence. Galileo was responsible for his appointment at Pisa. 1613, reported to Galileo on an attack on him at the table of the Grand Duke of Tuscany. 1613, at Galileo's instigation he was offered a chair at the university, (see 6 above). While in Pisa he tutored the Medici prince Lorenzo. 1615, Galileo entrusted to Castelli his response to his critics in the polemic on floating bodies. Castelli went to Rome to see how the land lay under the new Pope in 1624 (or 25). It was on that occasion that the Pope sent him to investigate the Po valley with Corsini. About 1626, was called by Urban VIII to Rome to assume chair at the university (see 6 g.), to be a consultant on hydraulics, and to tutor Taddeo Barberini. Castelli received a pension of 150 scudi. The Pope ordered the publication of Castelli's book, which was dedicated to Urban and was published by the Papal press. Nevertheless there is good evidence that Castelli found his position in Rome galling and struggled unsuccessfully to leave. See the final pages of Favaro. 9. Technological Connections: hydraulics, instruments; He suggested to Galileo the method of observing sunspots, really a device. He apparently first suggested a device to measure rainfall. 1626, papal consultant on hydraulics. (Presumably having to do with river management.) Indeed Castelli's entire career was devoted primarily to this practical activity. 10. Scientific Societies: Connections: Knew Galileo very well. Taught Borelli, Cavalieri, and Toricelli. SOURCES:
Not Available and Not Consulted: G.L. Masetti
Zannini, La vita di Benedetto Castelli (Brescia, 1961).
Cataldi, Pietro Antonio
1. Dates: Born: Bologna, 15 April 1552; Died: Bologna, 11 February 1626; Datecode: Lifespan: 74 2. Father: Unknown; The only information is that Paolo Cataldi was a citizen of Bologna. No information on financial status. 3. Nationality: Birth: Italy; Career: Italy; Death: Italy 4. Education: University of Bologna; Ph.D., M.D. Cataldi began teaching mathematics in 1567 at the age of seventeen. I assume that there had not been any university degree by that time and probably no university study. Note that he insisted on teaching in Italian. When he return to Bologna in 1584, he took doctorates (sic) in both medicine and philosophy that same year. To say the least, this is perplexing. There is no trace of the medical degree either in his publications or in what is known of his life. I assume, as always in such cases, a B.A. or its equivalent. 5. Religion: Catholic. 6. Scientific Disciplines: Mathematics; Subordinate Disciplines: Astronomy; Cataldi is particularly remembered for the Trattato del modo brevissimo di trovar la radice quadra delli numeri, published in 1613. This work represents a notable contribution to the development of infinite algorithms-to wit, continued fractions. Cataldi also has a place in the history of the criticism of Euclid's fifth postulate. In his Operetta delle linee rette equidistanti et non equidistanti, he attempted to demonstrate the fifth postulate on the basis of remainders. In all, Cataldi published more than thirty works on mathematics. In his will be left a bequest to establish a school in Bologna, in his house, for the study of mathematics and other sciences. Fantuzzi says that the school was never in fact established. Cataldi was to teach both mathematics and astronomy in Bologna. One of his works (1613) was tables on the rising of the sun and midday for Bologna. 7. Means of Support: Academic; Secondary Means of Support: School Master. Although both Fantuzzi and DBI have Cataldi starting his career in Perugia from 1569-84, he himself states explicitly that he taught in Florence in the Academy of Design in 1569-70. Taught mathematics at the University of Perugia, also at the Academy of Design in Perugia, 1569-1584. Taught mathematics and astronomy at the Studio di Bologna, 1584-1626. 8. Patronage: Aristocratic Patronage; City Magistrate; Ecclesiastic Official; Court Patronage; He dedicated Practica aritmetica, 1606-17 (in four parts) to the Senate of Bolgna (although one source says that Cataldi had to print it at his own expense). He also dedicated a number of other works to the Senate, in all about half of all those he published. I suspect that a number of the aristocrats mentioned below, to whom he also dedicated books, were members of the Senate. I assume that these dedications could not have been without some relation to his appointment to the university. He dedicated books to Giacomo Boncompagna, Marquis of Vignola (1577), Pierfranceso Malaspina, Marquis of Edificio [this is what Fantuzzi prints] (1604), and to other similar people. He dedicated one book to the city of Lucca. He dedicated one book to Don Antonio Crosino, canon of the Cathedral of Brescia. He dedicated his Transformatione geometrica, 1611, to the Grand Duke Cosimo II. 9. Technological Connections: Military Engineer; The book of 1613, on roots, was (according to its extended title) specifically directed to military operations, to problems of the range of artillery. Operetta di ordinanze quadre, 1618, was explicitly concerned with the application of algebra to military formations, bizarre as this sounds. 10. Scientific Societies: Cataldi tried to organize an academy for mathematics in Bologna, but it ran into political opposition (which I find difficult to imagine) and lapsed almost immediately. SOURCES:
Not Available and Not Consulted: 'Cataldi,
P.A.,' in Enciclopedia Italiana Treccani, 9 (1931), p.403.
Cavalieri, Bonaventura
1. Dates: Born: Milano, c. 1598. Both Favaro and Abetti think he was born earlier. Died: Bologna, 30 November 1647; Datecode: Birth Date Uncertain; Lifespan: 49 2. Father: Aristocrat; The father, also Bonaventura Cavalieri, was of a noble family that was not rich. No clear information on financial status beyond the fact that they were not rich. 3. Nationality: Birth: Italy; Career: Italy; Death: Italy 4. Education: University of Pisa; He studied theology in the monastery of San Gerolamo in Milan. Here Card. Federico Borromeo noted his intelligence; he wrote to Galileo introducing Cavalieri in 1617. Through Benedetto Castelli, a lecturer in mathematics at Pisa, he was initiated in the study of geometry. He quickly absorbed the classical works in mathematics, demonstrating such exceptional aptitude that he sometimes substituted for his teacher at the University of Pisa. I do not see any mention of any degree. 5. Religion: Catholic. He entered the Jesuate (sic) religious order in 1615. 6. Scientific Disciplines: Mathematics; Subordinate Disciplines: Astronomy; Optics; Mechanics. He published eleven books beginning in 1632. Cavalieri's theory, as developed in his Geometria and in other works, related to an inquiry into infinitesimals. Cavalieri made a rational systematization of the method of indivisibles. His view of the indivisibles gave mathematicians a deeper conception of sets: it is not necessary that the elements of a set be assigned or assignable; rather it suffices that a precise criterion exist for determining whether or not an element belongs to the set. He developed a general rule for the focal length of lenses and thought of a reflecting telescope. He worked some on the problems of motion. His appointment at Bologna virtually required that he involve himself somewhat with astronomy, and even astrology, in which he appears to have engaged only from necessity. 7. Means of Support: Church Living; Academic; Secondary Means of Support: Schoolmaster; He was received into the minor order of the Jesuati in Milan in 1615, and in 1616 transferred to the Jesuati monastery in Pisa. In 1621 he was ordained a deacon to the Cardinal Federigo Borromeo. Taught theology at the monastery of San Girolamo in Milan, 1620-1623. Prior of St. Peter's at Lodi, 1623-1626. Prior of the monastery of the Jesuati in Parma, 1626-1629. Prior of a convent of his own order in Bologna, 1629-; Professor of mathematics at the University of Bologna, 1629-1647. When he was initially rejected for the chair in Bologna in 1619 because he was too young, he gave lessons in mathematics in Florence for a year-to Ascanio Piccolomini, to two nephews of Card. del Monte, and to other. Such lessons appear to have belonged to the entire period (1616-19) of his study in Pisa. In Bologna he continued to give private lessons. 8. Patronage: Scientist; Ecclesiastic Official; Aristocratic Patronage; Magistrate; He was encouraged in his study by Benedetto Castelli. Castelli introduced him to Galileo, and he had Cavalieri substitute for him when Castelli had to be absent. Cavalieri tried to get the chair in Pisa when Castelli left for Rome, but the appointment went to Aggiunti. The role of Card. Borromeo in Cavalieri's life is not wholly clear, but he kept popping up, and early he was clearly of importance. Cavalieri owed his teaching position at Bologna to Galileo's influence with Marsili and Cardinals Aldobrandini and Ludovisi. Cavalieri asked Galileo to intervene on his behalf with the men above and with Margherita de' Medici, the wife of Odoardo Farnese. Galileo did so and the appointment went through. Marsili then became one of Cavalieri's strongest protectors. Cavalieri dedicated a table of logs to the Senate of Bologna in 1632 when he was greatly concerned about his re-appointment-which then immediately followed. In gratitude he then published Lo specchio ustorio, also dedicated to the Senate. Favaro state that Cavalieri planned his publications to coincide with times when re-apointments would be necessary. Thus his last book, in 1646, Trattato della ruota planetaria perpetua, 1646, came with his last re-appointment-another work on astrology which he thought pleasing to the patricians of Bologna. He dedicated a book on astrology (1639) to Card. Francesco Barberini. About 1635 (or could this have been 1629?) Urban appointed Cavalieri as perpatual Prior of the Convent of Santa Maria della Mascarella in Bologna. (I think this was a house of the Jesuates.) Cavalieri never had anything to do with the convent; the appointment, engineered by Card. Giulio Sacchetti, the legate to Bologna, was intended to give him support for his work. 9. Technological Connections: Hydraulics; Mathematics; Cavalieri constructed a hydraulic pump for his monastery; the Duke of Mantua apparently obtained one like it. Cavalieri emphasized the practical use of logs (which he introduced into Italy) for various studies such as astronomy and geography. He published tables of logs, including logs of spherical trigonometric functions (for astronomers). 10. Scientific Societies: Friendship and correspondence with Galileo. He wrote at least 112 letters to Galileo. Galileo said of Cavallieri, in his letter to Marsilli, 'few, if any, since Archimedes, have delved as far and as deep into the science of geometry.'; Friendship with Castelli, and correspondence with many of Galileo's circle-Marsili, Torricelli, Renieri, Viviani-and correspondence with Mersenne and Rocca. It is reported of Stefano degli Angeli, who was a student of Cavalieri near the end of Cavalieri's life, when he was crippled with arthritis, that Angeli helped him with the 'fatiguing difficulty' [faticoso disbrigo] of his correspondence. SOURCES:
Not Available and/or Not Consulted: U.
D'Aviso, 'Vita del P.Buonaventura Cavalieri' in
Trattato della Sfera,
(Rome, 1682). G. Piola, Elogio di Bonaventura Cavalieri, (Milan,
1844). A. Favaro, Bonaventura Cavalieri nello studio de Bologna,
(Bologna, 1855). P. Riccardi,
Biblioteca matematica italiana, (Modena,
1870). Fabroni, Historia Academiae Pisanae, 1, 267-301. Bonaventura
Cavalieri, Categgio, ed. Giovanna Baroncelli (Archivio della
corrispondenza degli scienziati italiani), (Firenze: Olschki, 1987).
Enrico Giusti, B. Cavalieri and the Theory of Indivisibles, (1980).
Celaya, Juan de
1. Dates: Born: Valencia, Spain, c. 1490; Died: Turia, Spain, 6 December 1558; Datecode: Birth Date Uncertain; Lifespan: 68 2. Father: Gentry; A knight who fought in the reconquest of Granada. No information on financial status 3. Nationality: Birth: Spanish; Career: French and Spanish; Death: Spanish 4. Education: University of Valencia; University of Paris; D.D. It is relevant that Celaya was the son of a knight who fought in the reconquest of Granada. Began education at University of Valencia; To University of Paris, (College de Montaigu): B.A. 1509; D.D. 1522 5. Religion: Catholic 6. Scientific Disciplines: Scholastic Philosophy 7. Means of Support: Academic position; Celaya stayed in Paris, teaching, until 1524. During these years he maintained a prolific output in logic and natural philosophy; his commentary on the Physics is especially important for its discussion of motion. Celaya returned to Spain about 1524. He became the Rector and professor of theology at the University of Valencia. He appears to have stayed in that position until the end of his life. 8. Patronage: Aristocracy, Ecclesiastical officials, Court; See the dedications of his works. His first one, 1516, is to his magnanimous lord Don Luis de Carros. He second to his 'generous lord' Francois de Fenollet, chevalier de Saint-Jacques. When republished in 1527, this work was dedicated to a Spanish noble. a work in 1521 was dedicated to another 'lord,' the Prince Don Rodrigue de Mendoza Adzanete. He dedicated another to Jeronimo Cavanilles, commander of the King of Spain's Guard and later Spanish ambassador to France. He dedicated works to Estaban Gabriel de Merino, the Papal Nuncio to France, and one to Juan Rodriguez de Fonseca, Archbishop of Burgos. He dedicated a theological work on the Sentences to Charles V, who later invited Celaya to live at the court. When the University of Valencia urged that Charles rather name Celaya Rector of the university, he did so. 9. Technological Connections: None 10. Scientific Societies: None. Note that he was part of the Spanish group prominent in Paris in the early 16th century. SOURCES:
Cesi, Federico
1. Dates: Born: Rome, 13 March 1585; Died: Acquasparta (about 80 km north of Rome), 1 August 1630; Datecode: Lifespan: 45; 2. Father: Aristocrat; Federico, Duke of Acquasparta. The Cesi family had risen into the nobility during the 16th century on the basis of service to the Church. In all, five Cesis were cardinals during the 16th and early 17th centuries. Especially Card. Federico Cesi, in the mid 16th century, built a fortune from his service to the church and used it to endow the family. His nephew, also Federico and father to Federico the Lincean, was elevated to Marquis, then Duke, and ultimately Prince. The mother of Federico (the Lincean) was Olimpia Orsini (of the noble Roman Orsinis). Although the profligacy of the father ultimately ruined the family, it appears to me that one has to say that Federico (the Lincean) was reared in wealthy circumstances. 3. Nationality: Birth: Italy; Career: Italy; Death: Italy 4. Education: Non; He was educated by private tutors. 5. Religion: Catholic 6. Scientific Disciplines: Botany; Org; Subordinate Disciplines: Pharmacology; Cesi will always be remembered primarily for his Accademia dei Lincei, which is often cited as the first modern scientific society-though it appears to me more as the expression of his aspirations to be a great patron of learning. He made the principal function of the Accademia the preparation of a precis of the Spanish physician, Francisco Hernandez's Nova plantarum et mineralium mexicanorum historia (a work referred to under various titles, in one of which the word thesaurus is central) for publication. A preliminary version of this was published in 1628; the complete version appeared only in 1651, more than twenty years after Cesi's death. It contained Cesi's own Phytosophicae tabulae, a pioneer effort at a classification of plants. Using a microscope (which he received from Galileo), Cesi discovered the spores of cryptogams. The final table (of the Phytosophicae tabulae) concerned the medicinal uses of plants. Cesi was a leading simpler of the age, and his herb garden was known as one of the best in Italy. 7. Means of Support: Per 8. Patronage: Patronage of an Ecclesiatic Official; Though a patron himself, Cesi found himself in need of protection during the final decade of his life as the family's fortunes collapsed from the extravagance of his father and as other members of the family attacked him with law suits that threatened instant ruin. In this situation he turned to the Papacy for protection. The Accademia dedicated Galileo's Assayer, which it published as a letter to Virginio Caesarini, to the newly elected Urban VIII. It published the first microcopical observations (of bees), a sheet entitled Melissographia, which was an elaborate offering to Urban, whose family emblem was the bee. Cesi dedicated the first installment of the Thesaurus (or Historia) to Urban. His correspondence makes it clear that he was depending on the protection of the Papacy in his struggle to survive. 9. Technological Connections: Pharmacology; 10. Scientific Societies: Acad dei Lincei Leopoldina; Cesi organized the Accademia dei Lincei originally in 1603, although its significant years came later when he had long since passed beyond adolescence. The Accademia is remembered primarily because Cesi enrolled Galileo in it, and Galileo referred to himself in his major works as the Academician. In addition to Galileo's Letters on Sunspots and Il Saggiatore, the Accademia published some minor works by Porta and others. SOURCES:
Cesalpino, Andrea
1. Dates: Born: Arezzo, 5 June 1525. Old sources as well as DSB say 1519. Viviani documents the necessity that this be an error, and establishes 1525 to my satisfaction. DBI says 1524 or 25, and is explicit in rejecting 1519. Died: Rome, 15 March 1603. Datecode: Lifespan: 78 2. Father: Artisan; Giovanni de Andrea Cesalpino was a mason. Viviani, noting that the father was able to send a son to the university, doubts that he was by then a simple mason. Let me add that Cesalpino inherited what appears to have been considerable property in Arezzo. I do not see how we can avoid concluding that the circumstances were prosperous. 3. Nationality: Birth: Italy; Career: Italian; Death: Italian 4. Education: University of Pisa; M.D., Ph.D. He studied philosophy and medicine at Pisa, where he received his M.D. and Ph.D. (in the typical Italian mode) in 1551. He studied under Vesalius, Colombo, Guido Guidi, and Luca Ghini. 5. Religion: Catholic. Heterodox; Cesalpino's philosophical views tended toward naturalism. He was frequently denounced for heretical ideas, though he was careful and was therefore never prosecuted. 6. Scientific Disciplines: Botany; Physiology; Anatomy; Subordinate Disciplines: Natural Philosophy; Medicine; Mineralogy; Cesalpino's principal contribution to science lies in botany. He wrote the first true texbook of botany, De plantis libri XVI (1583), elaborating for the first time a system of plants based on a unified and coherent group of notions. His most important medical studies concern the anatomy and physiology of the motion of the blood. He gave a good decription of the cardiac valves and of the pulmonary vessels connected to the heart, as well as of the minor circulation. In Quaestionum peripateticarum (1571) he set out his philosophical views, which formed the framework of his medical and botanical works and which show that he was a follower of Aristotle, although he partially reformed the latters's theories. He published De metallis in 1596. 7. Means of Support: Academic; Patronage; Medical Practioner; Secondary Means of Support: Personal Means; Professor of Simples and director of the botanical garden at Pisa, 1556-1570 and then Professor of Medicine until 1591. He must have practised medicine. He lived in Pisa from 1551 to 55 on something. Cosimo valued him as a physician. In Rome later he was physician to Philip Neri, and it is reported that he generally applied himself to medicine during the period in Rome. While there he published Speculum artis medicae hippocraticum, 1601, with medical observations drawn from his practice, and his final work, from the Roman period, was Praxis universae artis medicae, 1602-3. Physician to the Cavalieri di Santo Stefano in 1582. There were tensions within the university at Pisa by 1589; apparently Cesalpino was accused of spreading heretical teachings. And the Grand Duke appointed another physician to the university with a salary considerably higher than Cesalpino's. Cesalpino took umbrage and actively sought an appointment in Rome; this is documented. He was physician to Pope Clement VIII, and professor at the Sapienza, 1592-1603, with a total salary of 1000 scudi (600 from the city and 400 from the Pope). There is documentary evidence that he held a fair bit of property in Arezzo. 8. Patronage: Court Patronage; Ecclesiastic Official; Scientist; Aristocratic Patronage; He was a client (or personal physician) to Cosimo I, and following him to both Francesco I and Ferdinando I. He dedicated works to both Francesco I and Ferdinand I. In 1570 he was collecting plants in Tuscany on the orders of Pius V who intended to establish a botanical garden in Rome. In 1592 he was called to Rome as physician to Pope Clement VIII, and, simultaneously, professor at the Sapienza with a combined stipend of 1000 scudi. He dedicated De metallis and another work to Clement. Marini is explicit in stating that Mercati engineered Cesalpino's appointment in Rome. Bishop Tornabuoni is described as his patron. He dedicated the second part of Ars medica to Card. Petro Aldobrandini. (This work was published after Cesalpino's death, though in the same year, 1603. He appears to have composed the dedication.); He dedicated Daemonum investigatio to Giovanni de' Tonsi, a Milanese patrician, and he dedicated De saporibus and later another work to Baccio Valore, a Florentine patrician. 9. Technological Connections: Medicine; Pharmacology; 10. Scientific Societies: He was in close communication with his former student and friend Michele Mercati. He corresponded with Aldrovandi and with botanists abroad such as Belon and L'Obel. SOURCES:
Not Available and Not Consulted: C. Ceconi,
'Andrea Cesalpino, Physiologist, Naturalist, Philosopher,' Revista di
storia critica di scienze mediche e naturali, 3 (1912).
Cestoni, Giacinto [Diacinto]
1. Dates: Born: Montegiorno, Ancona, 13 May 1637. There is disagreement on an inconsequential detail: some place the date of birth as 10 May. However, Baglioni publishes the baptismal record which states that 13 May was the date of birth. Died: Livorno, 29 January 1718; Datecode: Lifespan: 81; 2. Father: Unknown; Of his occupation I find nothing, only his name: Vittorio Cestoni. It is said explicitly that the parents were poor. 3. Nationality: Birth: Italian; Career: Italian; Death: Italian 4. Education: Non; His education terminated where he was eleven; he was then apprenticed to a pharmacist (i.e., apothecary). 5. Religion: Catholic. Cestoni was tepid in his religious practice, to the extent of becoming suspect of libertinism. However, he died in the Catholic faith. 6. Scientific Disciplines: Natural History; Entomology; Microscopy; Subordinate Disciplines: Pharmacology; Zoology; Above all, Cestoni was a natural historian devoted to detailed observation-e.g., of the metamorphic cycle of the flea. He was interested in the generation of insects. In connection with his observations in entomology, he discovered (or discovered in connection with the Livornese physician Bonono) the acarid etiology of mange. Cestoni used the microscope systematically. He did experimental work on pharmacology, and his observations in natural history included things like shell fish and chameleons. The estimation of Cestoni seems to be constantly rising, and some historians are even touting him as the most important Italian scientist (perhaps they mean in the field of the life sciences) in Italy during his age. 7. Means of Support: Artisan; Pharmacology; Secondary Means of Support: Medical Practioner; 1650-6, Cestoni was in Rome in the service of a pharmacist. 1656-60, working for a pharmacist in Livorno. 1660-6, he was travelling, partly outside of Italy, much of this time, although he was back in Livorno with the pharmacist part of this time. For about four months he worked for a pharmacist in Geneva. 1666, he settled as a pharmacist in Livorno where he spent the rest of his life. Cestoni was employed by one Salamoni, who owned the pharmacy but lacked the professional qualifications to run it. Cestoni married a relation of Salamoni, and it appears that he became more than a mere employee. It seems clear that he ended up as a prominent figure in Livorno. Cestoni is called a skillful surgeon as well as a pharmacist, and the epigraph on his tomb called him a physician. 8. Patronage: Court Patronage; Prince Ferdinando de' Medici, son of Cosimo III, had Cestoni named protospeziale [official or principal apothecary?] of Livorno. Ferdinando loved to converse with him, and apparently Cosimo did also on occasion. It is stated, however, that Cestoni did not try to profit from his relation with the ruling family. 9. Technological Connections: Pharmacology; Medical Practioner; 10. Scientific Societies: When the court was in Livorno in 1680, Cestoni met Redi, with whom he corresponded regularly after that time. (The letters from Redi to Cestoni are published in Redi's Opere; Cestoni's have not been found.) Upon the death of Redi in 1695, Cestoni found the publications of Vallisnieri and sought out a correspondence with him that lasted until Cestoni's death twenty years later. Cestoni wrote regularly once a week during most of this time; more than 580 of the letters survive. (With the rising interest in Cestoni, they have been published.) Vallisnieri published some of Cestoni's observations on natural history, giving credit to Cestoni. Cestoni corresponded also with Malpighi, Bellini, Ricciardi, Zambeccari, and Magliabechi, as he tried to rise above his provincial setting. In Livorno there was a circle of scientifically interested men which included especially the physician Bonono. SOURCES:
Not Available and/or Not Consulted: J.P.
Niceron, Mémoires pour servir a l'histoire des hommes illustres
(1700s), 15, 13. A. Vallisnieri, 'Necrologio,' Giornale de' letteratura
d'Italia, 30 (1718), 327-37. A. Emiliani, Giacinto Cestoni. Studio
biografico, (Fermo, 1876). A Corsini, 'Giacinto Cestoni,' Revista
di storia critica delle scienze mediche e naturale, 8 (1918),
413-26. R. Friedman, 'G.C. Bonono: the 250th Anniversary of his Discovery,'
Medical
Life, 44 (1937), 3-62. A. Razzauti, Diacinto Cestoni ed it suo epistolario
ad A. Vallisnieri, (Livorno, 1941). S. Baglioni, 'Giacinto Cestoni
(1637-1718), parassitologo,' Revista di parassitologia, 6 (1942),
1-13.
Ceulen, Ludolph van
1. Dates: Born: Hildesheim, Germany, 28 January 1540; Died: Leiden, 31 December 1610; Datecode: Lifespan: 70 2. Father: a merchant; Bosmans says that his father was in very modest condition, so that Van Ceulen's education stopped with elementary. I interpret this as poor. 3. Nationality: Birth: German; Career: Dutch; Death: Du 4. Education: Non; No evidence of any university education. 5. Religion: Calvinist; Nothing whatever is said; he must have conformed to the Calvinist church of the Netherlands. 6. Scientific Disciplines: Mathematics; Van Ceulen computed pi to 20 decimal places, and later, using Archimedes method (to which he added devices to speed things up) to 33 and ultimately to 35 places. In this he made himself an expert in trigonometry. 7. Means of Support: Schoolmaster, Academic; 1580: in Delft he was a fencing master and a teacher of mathematics. 1594: he received permission to open a fencing school in Leiden. 1600-10: he was appointed a teacher of arithmetic, surveying, and fortification in the engineering school that Maurice established in Leiden (with a salary of f400, later raised somewhat). Willibrord Snel was his student, and Snel later translated at least two of his works into Latin. 8. Patronage: Scientist, Magistrates. Van Ceulen formed friendships with powerful figures in the intellectual and scientific community of the Netherlands, including Jan Cornets de Groot, Stevin, and Adrien Van Roomen. They clearly helped his career. He dedicated his book, On the Circle, to the Magistrates of Leiden. 9. Technological Connections: Military Engineer; Cartography; Although he had that appointment in the engineering school, nothing whatever is said about the exercise of such functions. Nevertheless this seems entirely analogous to writing books on the subjects. 10. Scientific Societies: Informal connections: he was friendly with Jan de Groot, Snel, and Stevin. De Groot translated Archimedes into Dutch expressly so that van Ceulen could read it. In the late 80's there was a lively exchange of pamphlets in the Netherlands on the value of pi-which involved, in addition to van Ceulen, Simon van der Eycke, Coignet, Stevin, and others. Soon after that there was another on the calculation of interest. I do not recall an earlier example of this sort of a nascent scientific community. SOURCES:
Not Available and Not Consulted: David
Bierens de Haan, Bouwstoffen voor de geschiedenis der wis- en natuurkundige
wetenschappen in der Nederlanden, (Amsterdam, 1876-8), nos. 8, 9, 17.
(Reprinted from Verslagen en mededeelingen der Koninklijke Akademie
van Wetenschappen Amsterdam.); H. Bosmans, 'Un émule de Viète,'
Annales
de la SociétéScientifique de Bruxelles, 34, pt. 2 (1919),
88-139.
Ceva, Giovanni
1. Dates: Born: Milano, 1647 or 1648 (DBI and Loria say probably December 1647); Died: Mantua, 3 or 13 May 1734; Datecode: Birth Date Uncertain; Lifespan: 87 2. Father: Unknown; I find only that Carlo Francesco Ceva was rich and famous. I accept the information: wealthy. 3. Nationality: Birth: Italian; Career: Italian; Death: Italian 4. Education: University of Pisa; He received his first education in a Jesuit college in Milano. He studied then in Pisa where he was a student of D. Rossetti and A. Marchetti, both students of Borelli. There is no mention of a degree. 5. Religion: Catholic. 6. Scientific Disciplines: Mathematics; Hydraulics; Ceva's most important mathematical work was De lineis rectis (Milan, 1678). In this work he used the properties of the center of gravity of a system of points to obtain the relations of the segments. He also published Opuscula mathematica (Milan, 1682), Geometria motus (Bologna, 1692), De re numeraria (Mantua, 1711), and other works. Much of his mathematical work had a practical bent-e.g., hydraulics. This became more pronounced as the years passed. His final work, and his most important one, was Opus hydrostaticum, 1728. 7. Means of Support: Government Position; Possibly taught at the University of Pisa. He must have done something before 1686 (when he was nearly forty). However, there does not seem to be any documentary evidence. He went to Mantua about 1686 in the service of the Gonzagas, and he continued to serve the city government after the Austrians took over (which I think was 1707). At the time of his death his name was carried in a register of the salaried employees of the royal court as 'Commissario dell'arciducale Camera et mathematico cesareo'. Loria says also that he was Commissario Generale dell'Acque. Obviously this is ambiguous. I could list his support as patronage; with personal physicians I do that. Nevertheless it appears to me that Ceva was more a technical employee than a client. 8. Patronage: Court Patronage; Ecclesiastic Official; Magistrate; He was in the service of the Mantuan court as a technical expert, at least by 1686. His first book after he went to Mantua concerned hydraulics, building on Castelli's work. Even before he moved to Mantua, he dedicated his first book (1678) to Ferdinando Carlo Gonzaga. Although I found no explicit statement, I cannot believe that this did not have some relation to his ultimate appointment. I do not know the details of Austrian administration after they took over ultimate control of Mantua; I suspect that they retained some Dukes, though apparently not the Gonzaga, as their puppets. At any rate, Ceva immediately made his peace with the new order. A later work is dedicated to the president and quaestors of the Mantuan Camera. He was on the Mantuan Commission of Water. He dedicated other mathematical works to Card. Ricci. 9. Technological Connections: Hydraulics; Mathematics; De re numeraria attempts to solve the conditions of equilibrium in a plurimetallic monetary system in a small territory (such as Mantua)-a pioneering work in mathematical economics. As the spokesman for Mantua, he opposed the plans of Bologna and Manfredi to divert the Reno into the Po early in the 18th century. Ceva's opposition succeeded in stopping the project. 10. Scientific Societies: SOURCES:
Ceva, Tomasso
1. Dates: Born: Milano, 20 December 1648; Died: Milano, 3 February 1737 (Ramat puts the two dates as 1649 and 1736, but others, including Sommervogel, do not agree.); Datecode: Lifespan: 89 2. Father: Unknown; I find only that Carlo Francesco Ceva was said to be wealthy and famous. I accept the information: wealthy. 3. Nationality: Birth: Italy; Career: Italy; Death: Italy 4. Education: Religious Orders; D.D. In 1663 entered the Society of Jesus. Apparently he was educated entirely within the order. It seems clear that he had the equivalent of a B.A. As a full Jesuit he would have had a doctorate in theology. 5. Religion: Catholic. Entered the Society of Jesus in 1663. He spent the whole of his adult life within the order. 6. Scientific Disciplines: Mathematics; Subordinate Disciplines: Natural Philosophy; Ceva's Opuscula mathematica(1699), summarizing all of his mathematical work, dealt with gravity, arithmetic, geometric-harmonic means, the cyloid, division of angles, and higher order conic sections and curves. Ceva's contribution to mathematics was, however, modest. His first scientific work, De natura gravium (1669), dealt with physical subjects-such as gravity and free fall-in a philosophical way. If I have understood some rather opaque prose, he accepted some Newtonian ideas. However, he was later the author of Philosophia novo-antiqua (1704), which tried to yoke experimental philosophy to Scholasticism, anti-Copernicanism, and anti-Cartesianism. (Recall that he was a Jesuit.) Ramat calls the Philosophia one of the last efforts of Scholasticism against the new philosophy. Ceva was a fairly important literary and theological figure, and much more into these fields than into science. 7. Means of Support: Church Living; He entered the Society of Jesus in 1663. At an early age he became professor of mathematics and rhetoric at Brera College in Milan (a Jesuit college), and he taught there for more than forty years. 8. Patronage: Court Patronage; Government Official; Aristocratic Patronage; Patronage of an Ecclesiatic Official; He lived in Milano, enjoying the protection of the Spanish and later the imperial authorities. Ceva was more of a Jesuit humanist than a mathematician, and he ground out lots of Latin prose celebrating various official events staged by the ruling authorities in Milano. He dedicated his Latin poem, Iesus puer (which was translated into at least German and Italian and was much republished), to Joseph I, King of the Romans (the later Emperor). Joseph named Ceva Caesarian Theologian early in the 18th century. (Ceva dedicated other editions of Iesus puer to prelates.) It appears that like his brother in Mantua, Ceva adapted to imperial rule immediately, and among his compositions were lives of members of the Hapsburg family. He dedicated works also to Signora Teresa Borromeo, Guzman (the Spanish governor of Milan), the Marquis Ottavio Gonzaga, and Card. Giovanni Badoaro. 9. Technological Connections: Instruments; He designed an instrument to divide a right angle into a specified number of equal parts. He also prepared stage effects, such as artificial fire, for official pageants in the early 18th century. Frankly I do not known how to categorize this, and I am far from sure that I want to call it technology. 10. Scientific Societies: He had a close friendship with the mathematician P.P. Caravaggio and his son. G. Saccheri was his student. Ceva frequented the Accademia dei Vigilanti, promoted by the Countess Clelia Borromeo, and through her he was in correspondence with Viviani and G. Grandi. He was made a fellow of the Arcadia in 1718. SOURCES:
Not Available and Not Consulted: Guido
Grandi, Geometrica demonstratio theorematum Hugenianum circa logisticam,
seu logarithmicam lineam, addita epistola geometrica ad P. Thomam Cevam,
(Florence, 1701).
Charleton, Walter
1. Dates: Born: Shepton Mallet, Somerset, 2 February 1620; Died: London, 24 April 1707. If it matters, DSB, different from everyone else, gives 13 February and 6 May as the dates of birth and death. Datecode: Lifespan: 87 2. Father: Church Living; Walter Charleton [sic] was the rector in Shepton Mallet. No clear information on financial status. On the one hand, Biographia Britannica says that the father was indifferently furnished with the goods of fortune. Nevertheless, on the other hand, Charleton does not appear to have matriculated in Oxford as a servitor. On the first hand again, it is made clear that he studied medicine because he needed to think in terms of a remunerative career. 3. Natonality: Birth: English; Career: English; Death: English 4. Education: Oxford University, M.D. Oxford University, 1635-43; Magdalen Hall; M.D., 1643. In Magdalen Hall he was the pupil of Wilkins, who influenced him. The M.D., rather early, was bestowed upon mandate from Charles I. 5. Religion: Anglican; Charleton is described as a high churchman. 6. Scientific Disciplines: Medicine; Natural Philosophy; Subordinate Disciplines: Physiology; Natural History; Anatomy; Charleton was not a leader of English medicine; nevertheless he did publish a number of works on medicine. His most important work was in general natural philosophy. He entered the world of learning as a disciple of van Helmont (Spiritus gongonicus, a Helmontian theory of the formation of stones in the human body, and A Ternary of Paradoxes, mostly a translation from Helmont, both in 1650. Then three works in the atomist tradition: The Darkness of Atheism, 1652; Physiologia Epicuro-Gassendo-Charletoniana, 1654; The Immortality of the Human Soul [sic], 1657. The Natural History of Nutrition, Life and Voluntary Motion, 1659, was one of the first books in English on physiology. Onomasticon zoicon, 1668, was a work more or less in taxonomy. He also published some anatomical lectures and Onomasticon contained anatomies of two animals that he had dissected. 7. Means of Support: Medical Practioner; Secondary Means of Support: Patronage; Org; Medical practice, from 1643. Physician in ordinary to the King, 1643. Charleton, a royalist, left Oxford no later than 1650 for London, where he opened a practice. Upon the Restoration, he because physician in ordinary to Charles II. Very little is said of this, and it is not clear what income he derived from it. Toward the end of Charleton's long life, when his royalist patients had died off, his practice dwindled. He had to leave London for a time. When he returned to London, the Royal College of Physicians helped him, by appointing him in 1706 Harveian Librarian of the College, with a salary of L20. He is said to have died destitute. 8. Patronage: Court Patronage; Aristocratic Patronage; Gentry; Medicine; Merchant Patronage; In The Darkness of Atheism Charleton acknowledged his debts to John Prideaux, who was an important and influential figure in Oxford while Charleton was a student and who became a Bishop later. This is very vague, and it is not clear that he referred to anything more than the help a teacher owes to a student. In 1643 Charleton was created M.D. through the favor of Charles I, and he was then almost immediately appointed physician to Charles. During the Interregnum he was appointed physician in ordinary to Charles II in exile. Most accounts have taken this appointment to have been merely nominal since Charleton remained in London, but Sharp's account, the most recent and most detailed, thinks that Charleton was in Paris during 1655. The crown rewarded him for his service and loyalty; there was a marked upturn in his fortune in 1660. (One source on patronage: Biographia Britannica, 3, 443-9.) Charleton published An Imperfect Pourtraicture of His Sacred Majesty Charles the II in 1661, a pretty shameless encomnium. He also dedicated Exercitationes pathologicae, 1661, to Charles. Charleton was a prolific writer and a liberal dedicator. Thus Darkness of Atheism to Sir Francis Prujean, a successful court physician who was President of the Royal College of Physicians at the time and who had helped Charleton register as a Candidate in 1650. He dedicated Natural History of Nutrition to Viscount Fauconberg and Dr. George Ent; he also dedicated another work to Ent. He dedicated the 1680 edition of Natural History, reworked and retitled Enquiries into Human Nature, to Sir John Cutler. He dedicated Immortality of the Human Soul, 1657, and Oeconomia animalium 1659, to the Marquis of Dorchester. In 1650 Lord Brouncker, a friend at Oxford, was forward in urging Charleton to publish A Ternary of Paradoxes, and to Brouncker he dedicated Disquisitiones duae anatomicae-phy |