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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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Maestlin, Michael 1. Dates: Born: Goepingen, Germany, 30 September 1550; Died: Tübingen, 20 October 1631 Datecode: Lifespan: 81 2. Father: a merchant; No information on financial status. 3. Nationality: Germany; Germany; German; Birth: Goepingen, Germany; Career: Germany; Death: Tübingen, Germany 4. Education: University of Tübingen; M.A. Attended monastery schools at Koenigsbronn and Herrenalb. 1568, matriculated at Tübingen. Heard mathematics and astronomy lectures from Peter Apian. 1569, B.A., Tübingen. 1571, M.A., Tübingen, then entered theological course. 5. Religion: Lutheran. : Lutheran 6. Scientific Disciplines: Astronomy. 7. Means of Support: Academic; Secondary Means of Support: Church Living; Served as an assistant to Peter Apian, prof. of Mathematics at Tübingen. 1575, replaced Apian while he went away on leave. 1575-1580, appointed to the Lutheran pastorate in Backnang, near Stuttgart. 1580, appointed professor of mathematics, University of Heidelberg. 1584-1631, professor of mathematics, University of Tübingen, replacing Apian who had been dismissed for refusing to sign Lutheran oath of religious allegiance. Between 1588 and 1629, elected dean of Tübingen arts faculty eight times. 8. Patronage: Court; While a student he had been supported by a stipend from the Duke of Wuerttemberg, in order that he might be prepared for service in the Lutheran church. Influence has to have been behind the professorial appointment, probably influence at court. 9. Technological Connections: None Known; He made most of his own astronomical instruments, but was not involved in any kind of instrument trade. I won't list this because it does not involve the development of a new instrument. 10. Scientific Societies: None; Connections: taught and corresponded with Kepler. SOURCES:
Not Available and Not Consulted: Viktor
Kommerell, 'Michael Maestlin,' Schwaebische Lebensbilder, 4
(Stuttgart, 1948), 86-100. Karl Steiff, 'Der Tübingen Professor der
Mathematik und Astronomie Michael Maestlin,' Literarische Beilage des
Staats-Anzeiger fuer Wuerttemberg (30 April 1892), 49-64. J.G.F. von
Bohnenberger, 'Michael Maestlin,' Wuerttembergische Vierteljahrsheft
fuer Landesgeschichte, 12 (1903), 244-7.
Magalotti, Lorenzo
1. Dates: Born: Rome, 13 December 1637; Died: Florence, 4 March 1712; Datecode: Lifespan: 75 2. Father: Aristocrat; Government Position; Orazio Magalotti came from an old and very distinguished Florentine family that stretched back all the way to the 12th century. Orazio was closely related to Card. Lorenzo Magalotti, who was the cousin of Urban VIII and one of Urban's most trusted advisers. Orazio's wife, and thus Lorenzo's mother, also came from a family of Florentine nobility. Orazio Magalotti, wealthy by inheritance, was a spenthrift. He went to Rome (where Lorenzo was born) with Urban to maintain his diminishing fortune, which he did. He was named to the Roman nobility and was employed, inter alia, as a papal ambassador. Despite the father's prodigality, one has to say that Lorenzo grew up in wealthy circumstances. 3. Nationality: Birth: Italian; Career: Italian; Death: Italian 4. Education: Collegio Romano; University of Pisa; After early education at home, Magalotti was sent to the Jesuit Collegio romano at age 13 (probably in 1651 then) and to the University of Pisa in 1656. In Pisa he studied with Viviani, one of the last pupils of Galileo, and attended the lectures of other scientists, notably Marcello Malpighi, Carlo Renaldini, and Giovanni Alfonso Borelli. I found no mention of a degree and assume that, given his rank, he did not bother with one. 5. Religion: Catholic. Magalotti had an uncle who was a cardinal, a brother who was an abbot, and five sisters who were nuns. For a few months in 1691 he himself was a brother in the Oratory of S. Filippo Neri, until he decided that he had no vocation for the religious life. 6. Scientific Disciplines: Com; Subordinate Disciplines: Natural Philosophy; He was the secretary of the Accademia del Cimmento and reported its activity in the Saggi di naturali esperienze fatte nell'Accademia del Cimento (Florence, 1667), essays on natural experiments mainly carried out by Borelli, Redi, and Vincenzio Viviani. Magalotti did not carry on any significant scientific work of his own, but he was involved part of his life with the currents of scientific thought. 7. Means of Support: Personal Means; Patronage; Government Position; It is difficult to figure, from the existing literature, how extensive the estate that Magalotti inherited was. His extravagant father was frequently more a burden than anything else. In 1679 Magalotti also inherited something (which he found to be too little) from a brother. However, Fermi (p. 59) is explicit in stating that Magalotti owned two estates from which he received rents. Cochrane says that he had (the time is around 1695) 47,000 scudi in land, from which he received net income of only 600 scudi; Cochrane mentions that he also held state bonds but does not give their worth. Note that in 91-3, after the faux pas with the Oratory, when he simply laid down his position at court and did not receive it back until two years later, Magalotti was indeed able to live on the proceeds of his estates. Fermo makes it clear that Magalotti was the consumate courtier, and that once introduced into the Medicean court, late in 1659, he immediately attracted attention, especially the attention of Leopold. Already in 1660 Magalotti became the secretary of the Accademia del Cimento. In 1661, when the family finances were in disarray (I assume because of the father's extravagance), Magalotti went to Rome to obtain an ecclesiastic benefice to increment his income. He failed, but not long thereafter he became a Gentleman of the Chamber, a position that carried a stipend of some sort. In 1668, after the Accademia had folded, Magalotti effectively entered the service of Cosimo, the prince who became Grand Duke in 1670. At some point Magalotti became a Counsellor of State. In 1672 he was, against his will, put in charge of the Grand Duke's museum. In 1675-8 he was ambassador to the imperial court in Vienna (with a handsome stipend of course, though Magalotti found it insufficient), and he received a pension when he returned to Florence. It is obvious that the categories of Patronage and Governmental position overlap almost completely in Magalotti's case, but I cannot see how to leave either one out. 8. Patronage: Court Patronage; Patronage of an Ecclesiatic Official; He was in the service of the Medici virtually all of his life. Fermi (pp. 55-6 especially) makes it clear how much Magalotti detested his servile position which he nevertheless never succeeded in leaving permanently. His only serious idea of how to leave, and it may well have been the only realistic alternative, was to enter other service, for example that of Card. Chigi. In 1691 Magalotti simply abandoned the court, without a by-your-leave, and entered the Oratory of S. Filippo Neri. It lasted only a few months. He returned to Florence and, as soon as he could, to his position at court. Fermi prints a nice poem that Magalotti composed about his lot. In 1669 Magalotti composed for Pope Alexander VII an essay on the use of the instruments of the Accademia that were being presented to him. In recompense, the Pope gave Magalotti a so-called Spanish pension worth 50 scudi a year for six years. 9. Technological Connections: Non 10. Scientific Societies: Accademia del Cimento; 1560-1667; Royal Society (London); He was the secretary of the Accademia del Cimento, but his role in it extended only to composing the Saggi. On a visit to London he was received into the Royal Society. He was also a member of the Accademia della Crusca and of the Arcadia. He carried on an extensive correspondence, at least some of which has been published (see Cochrane). Among his correspondents were Michelini, Viviani, and Redi, all of whom were Magalotti's close friends. Magalotti became the friend of Steno when he came to Florence. In England he formed a friendship with Boyle. SOURCES:
Not Available and/or Not Consulted: Pompillio
Pozzetti, Lorenzo Magalotti, (Florence, 1787). Cesare Guasti, 'Lorenzo
Magalotti, diplomatico,' Giornale storico degli archivi Toscani,
(1860-1861).
Magati, Cesare
1. Dates: Born: Scandiano (near Reggio Emilia), 1579; Died: Bologna, 9 September 1647; Datecode: Lifespan: 68 2. Father: Unknown; Giorgio Magati. The sources say only that Magati's parents were of modest condition. Münster and Romagnoli call the parents middle class. Nevertheless I am forced to note that of Magati's three siblings one brother became (like Magati) a well known physician, and a sister was the grandmother of Vallisnieri. No explicit information on financial status beyond that ambiguous 'modest condition.' 3. Nationality: Birth: Italian; Career: Italian; Death: Italian 4. Education: University of Bologna; M.D., Ph.D. He obtained doctorates in both philosophy and medicine at Bologna in 1597-a pattern I have found common in Italy. After completing his university education, Magati went to Rome for training in surgery; he was especially interested there in the new methods being developed for the treatment of wounds. 5. Religion: Catholic. In 1619 Magati joined the Capuchin order. 6. Scientific Disciplines: Surgery; Subordinate Disciplines: Medical Practioner; He is particularly remembered for De rara medicatione vulnerum (1616), which discusses the theory and method of healing wounds. He also wrote another work on this subject, replying to an attack by Sennert. Magati was a conservative physician who held to the tradition of Galen and Hippocrates. Within those limits he emphasized that the function of the physician was to assist nature, the ultimate source of cure, as much as possible by obstructing her as little as possible with excessive medication and treatment. For this he is remembered as a fundamental reformer of surgery. Magati also left behind a manuscript De re medica. An important consultation on syphilis survives, as well as a writing on the plague. 7. Means of Support: Medicine; Patronage; Secondary Means of Support: Academic; He built up a successful medical practice at Scandiano and gained the patronage of the Marquis (called Duke by some sources) Enzio Bentivoglio, who took him to Ferrara where in 1612 he named Magati a lecturer in surgery over the objections of the local medical profession. Magati continued to practice in Ferrara. He remained in this academic position only until 1618. In 1619 he joined the Capuchin order at Ravenna as Brother Liberato of Scandiano-a lay brother, who was never ordained. His superiors granted him permission (some sources say they ordered him) to practice, and he treated well-known patients throughout the territory of the house of Este. 8. Patronage: Aristocratic Patronage; Government Official; Patronage of an Ecclesiatic Official; Marquis Enzio Bentivoglio recognized his ability and took him to Ferrara. I do not want to take the time to sort out the precise status of rulers. In one genealogy of the house of Este, Alfonso II d'Este ruled Ravenna from 1559-97, and another source said that the church annexed Ferrara into the Papal state, from the Este, in 1598. There was, however, an Este Duke of Modena in the 1620's. Bentivoglio is clearly treated as the ruler of Ferrara in the accounts of Magati. On the other hand, the Este utilized Magati's medical talents extensively, and had Magati not died they would have published his De re medica. Magati dedicated De rara medicatione to Alessandro Fiasco, whom he called a knight and who was a magistrate in Ferrara, and to two magistrates of Ferrara and moderators of the university, Galeato Gualengo and Aloisio Bevilacqua, both marquises. Given the status of Ferrara, I list them as governmental officials. Medical consultations performed for the Rev. Giacomo Bentivoglio and the Countess Ippolita Manfreda survive. 9. Technological Connections: Medicine; 10. Scientific Societies: SOURCES:
Maggi, Bartolomeo
1. Dates: Born: Bologna, August 1477 (Fantuzzi says 1476; Hirsch says 1516); Died: Bologna, 7 April 1552; Datecode: Birth Date Uncertain; Lifespan: 75 2. Father: Aristocrat; I am accepting Mandosio's identification of the family as Bolognese patricians. No information on financial status. 3. Nationality: Birth: Italian; Career: Italian; Death: Italian 4. Education: None Known; Nothing whatever is said. Since he was both a prominent physician and a professor of surgery at the University of Bologna, it seems likely that he had a degree in medicine, but I will forbear to guess. 5. Religion: Catholic. 6. Scientific Disciplines: Surgery; Subordinate Disciplines: Medical Practioner; He was among the first to teach a rational method of treating gunshot wounds. The De vulnerum bombardorum et sclopetorum curatione, his work on the treatment of wounds, was published posthumously at Bologna in 1552. He was known also for his method of amputation. In 1550 Maggi published a consultation of syphilis. 7. Means of Support: Academic; Medicine; Patronage; He was professor of surgery at the University of Bologna and practiced surgery, and was private physician to Pope Julius III whom he had known as a cardinal. He did not like Rome and returned to Bologna. In 1550 he was called to treat the nephew of Paul III. 8. Patronage: Ecclesiastic Official; Court Patronage; Aristocratic Patronage; He was private physician to Pope Julius III. Henry II of France rewarded him with honors and gifts for his curative treatment of wounded French soldiers during the French invasion of Italy. Maggi composed his consultation of syphilis at the request of Galeotto Pio Signore della Mirandola. 9. Technological Connections: Medicine; 10. Scientific Societies: SOURCES:
Magini, Giovanni Antonio
1. Dates: Born: Padua 13 June 1555; Died: Bologna, 11 February 1617; Datecode: Lifespan: 62 2. Father: Unknown; Of his father, Pasquale Magini, it is known only that he was a citizen of Padua. No information on financial status. 3. Nationality: Italian; Birth: Padua, Italy; Career: Bologna, Italy; Death: Bologna, Italy 4. Education: University of Bologna; Ph.D. 1579, graduated with degree (a doctorate) in philosophy, University of Bologna. I assume a B.A. 5. Religion: Catholic. : Catholic 6. Scientific Disciplines: Cartography; Astronomy; Geography. Subordinate Disciplines: Astrology; Mathematics; Optics; Magini is remembered chiefly as a geographer and cartographer. He embarked upon the ambitious project of an atlas of Italy that would provide maps of each region with exact nomenclature and historical notes. The final complete edition of the atlas was published in 1620, after Magini's death, by his son. He did not himself do the mapping in the field. He published an edition of Ptolemy's Geography with a commentary in 1596. It is impossible fully to separate his astronomy from his astrology, and one could easily argue that astrology was more primary in his career than astronomy. His several astrological works were admired in his time. His writings on astronomy remain only of historical interest, since he continued to adhere to Ptolemaic principles. Magini'a mathematical work was essentially practical. In 1592 he published Tabula tetragonica, and in 1606 he brought out extremely accurate trigonometric tables. His contributions to practical geometry also included his works on the geometry of the sphere and applications of trigonometry, for which he invented calculating devices. He worked on mirrors and published on the theory of concave spherical mirrors. 7. Means of Support: Academic; Patronage; Secondary Means of Support: Schoolmaster; 1588, appointed to a chair of mathematics at Bologna, with a salary of 1000 lire-increased to 2000 in 1597 and later to 2500. He also served the Gonzaga dukes of Mantua as judicial astrologer and as teacher of mathematics to the princes-and received about 400 ducats per year. Magini also gave private lessons. 8. Patronage: Court Patronage; Aristocratic Patronage; Ecclesiastic Official; Patronage of Government Official; He served the Gonzaga Duke of Mantua as judicial astrologer beginning in 1599. He paid annual visits to Mantua, during which he also instructed the princes in mathematics. He dedicated his books on astrology to the Duke of Mantua. The Duke of Mantua lent his authority to the project of the atlas of Italy, aiding Magini in getting maps of the various states of Italy. Magaini dedicated the atlas to him. Magini received financial aid from several governments for his maps-for example, the governments of Messina and of Genoa (in both cases through the intervention of powerful patricians). Magini dedicated his map of the duchy of Monferrato to Caterina Medici Gonzaga. Apparently he dedicated all of his maps, some more than once, to rulers, aristocrates, and ecclesiastics. Thus he dedicated the map of Bologna to Card. Sforza. I have not tried to list all of the individual dedications of maps. He presented large concave spherical mirrors to Prince Jacopo Boncompagni, Card. Farnese, and Rudolf II. The Duke of Mantua gave him 500 scudi and diamond rings worth hundreds of scudi for one of the mirrors. The gift of the mirror to Rudolf led to a memorable long struggle by Magini to get the payment that he thought had been promised. He dedicated his Tabulae secundorum mobilium to Gregory XIII, and one of his Ephemerides to Don Giacomo Boncompagni (of Gregory's family), Governor General (if I understood correctly) of the papal states. He dedicated his Supplementum ephemeridum, 1614, to the Bolognese patrician Marescotti. 9. Technological Connections: Cartography; Mathematics; Instruments; He spent much of his life compiling an atlas of Italy, providing detailed maps of each region with exact nomenclature and historical notes. His mathematical tables. His spherical mirror rates as an instrument, as do a burning glass made for the emperor and a clock for the Duke of Mantua. He also devised (and described in print) a new quadrant. 10. Scientific Societies: None; Magini had extensive corespondence with a number of scientists of the time-including Galileo, Tycho, Kepler, Fincke, Clavius, van Roomen, Scheiner, and Ortelius. Favaro has published the correspondence. SOURCES:
Not Consulted: G. Loria, Storia delle
matematiche (Milan, 1950), 380, 400, 422-5.
Magiotti, Raffaello
1. Dates: Born: Montevarchi, Tuscany, 1597; Died: Rome, 1656; Datecode: Lifespan: 59 2. Father: Gentry; The father is described as small provincial nobility. This sounds like what is called gentry in England. No information on financial status. 3. Nationality: Birth: Italian; Career: Italian; Death: Italian 4. Education: None Known; He studied in Florence. Later, in Rome, he was one of the three favored followers of Galileo, but he was not Galileo's student at any time. 5. Religion: Catholic. 6. Scientific Disciplines: Physics; He demonstrated experimentally Torricelli's hypothesis that the mean velocity of a liquid flowing out of the bottom outlet of a vessel is proportional to the square root of the head pressure. He determined the rate of flow through various sizes of openings. Only one work by him was printed during his lifetime, the Renitenza dell'acqua alla compressione (1648). This work embodies the first published announcement of the near incompressibility of water at a constant temperature and the expansion and contraction of water and air according to changes in temperature. 7. Means of Support: Patronage; Church Living; After becoming a priest in the order of Santa Lucia della Chavica, he was invited to accompany Cardinal Sacchetti to Rome around 1630 as his houseguest. In 1636 he was appointed scrittore on the scholarly staff of the Vatican Library with a salary of 200 scudi a year. He lived the rest of his life in the court of the Cardinal he had followed to Rome. 8. Patronage: Ecclesiastic Official; Court Patronage; He was invited to accompany Cardinal Sacchetti to Rome around 1630 as his houseguest. Galileo and Castelli wished to nominate him (1638-1640) for the chair of mathematics at Pisa, but he refused to leave the congenial intellectual life of Rome. I do not list this as patronage because it did not come to pass. He dedicated the Renitenza to Lorenzo de' Medici. I admit that I do not know who Lorenzo was (in the mid 17th century), and wonder if it was a slip for Leopoldo. In either case I assume that he was part of the court. 9. Technological Connections: Instruments; Magiotti developed the 'Cartesian devil' or 'diver' to illustrate the incompressibility of water. 10. Scientific Societies: He was one of the three favored followers, along with Castelli and Torricelli, whom Galileo referred to as his Roman 'triumvirate.' He maintained a correspondence with Galileo. Torricelli greatly admired him, openly acknowledged his aid in the field of hydrodynamics, and sought his approval of his work on solid cycloids. He was present at an experiment to test why pumps raise water only about 30 feet that was devised and staged in Rome by Berti at sometime between 1638 and 1644. SOURCES:
Not Available and Not Consulted: P. Berlingozzi,
'Raffaello Magiotti e la sua opera scientifica nel sec. XVII (Rivendicazioni
valdarnesi ignorate)' in Memorie valdarnesi, 2, 9,
(Montevarchi, 1902). Luigi Belloni, article on the Galilean 'triumvirate'
in Rome, in F. de Gandt, ed., L'oeuvre de Torricelli: science galiléenne
et nouvelle géométrie, (Paris, 1989). There does not
seem to be a great deal of information about Magiotti.
Magnenus [Magnen, Magnien], Johann
Chrysostom
1. Dates: Born: Luxeuil, Burgundy, c. 1590; Died: c. 1679; Datecode: Both Birth & Death Dates Uncertain Lifespan: 89; These are the DSB dates: Güsgens places Magnenus' likely birth about ten years later and his likely death about ten years earlier, which would reduce his Lifespan by twenty years. 2. Father: Unknown; Partington calls him a patrician which seems to indicate that the father was a member of that class, though this was the only mention of it. No information on financial status 3. Nationality: Birth: Luxeuil-les-Bains, France. Career: Pavia, Italy. Death: unknown. Italy or France, presumably. 4. Education: Dol, M.D. He received an M.D. from the University of Dôle. As usual, I will assume a B.A. or its equivalent. 5. Religion: Catholic (assumed). 6. Scientific Disciplines: Natural Philosophy; Pharmacology; Subordinate Disciplines: Astrology. Magnenus' importance in the history of science derives from his attempt to reinstate the Democritean theory of atomism as a respectable part of seventeenth century natural philosophy. His Democritus reviviscens (1646) was typically regarded as instrumental in establishing a comprehensive alternative to Aristotelianism. His other writings include De tabaco (1648), which treats of the medical usage and effects of tobacco, and De manna liber singularis (1648). He used what is called tobacco syrup as his standard medicine prescribed to patients. Magnen's works reveal a great predilection for astrology, which he called the queen of the sciences. He thought that few who followed it really understood its usefulness. 7. Means of Support: Medicine; Academic; Secondary Means of Support: Patronage; After receiving his M.D., he travelled first in Italy, becoming well-known as a doctor. Professor of Medicine, University of Pavia, 1646, with a salary of 600 lire. He later became Professor of Philosophy in addition. Apparently he remained at the university for the rest of his life. 1660, he was chosen personal physician to the Count of Fuensaldagne, the ambassador to the French court, whom he accompanied to Paris. This appears to have been a temporary appointment. 8. Patronage: Aristocratic Patronage; Ecclesiastic Official; Government Official; Magistrate; He was personal physician to the Count of Fruensaldagne. Among his patients were Octavianus Picenardus, President of the Senate from Milan, Cesari Monti, Archbishop of Milan, and Gaspare Alifero, another official. He dedicated Democritus reviviscens to the Senate of Milan (Pavia was under Milanese control). 9. Technological Connections: Medicine; Pharmacology; He practiced medicine before becoming a professor and after leaving Pavia. It is not known whether he practiced medicine while a professor. 10. Scientific Societies: None known SOURCES:
Magni, Valeriano
1. Dates: Born: Milan, 15 October 1586 (Argellati says 1587); Died: Salzburg, 29 July 1661; Datecode: Birth Date Uncertain; Lifespan: 75 2. Father: Aristocrat. His father, Konstantin Magni came from an old family, the Counts of Magni. The family, which was of German origin, moved to Prague when Magni was two, and the father died not long thereafter. Abgottspan says that the family was apparently wealthy. 3. Nationality: Birth: Italian; Career: Germany; Czechoslovak; Polish; Death: German 4. Education: Religious Orders. Magni was educated within the schools of the Capucin order. In view of his career and his learning, I assume the equivalent of a B.A. 5. Religion: Catholic. He entered the Capuchin order in 1602. In 1616 he helped to establish the Franciscan order in Poland. Later he worked in Poland to consolidate the position of the Catholic church. In 1655 the combative Magni's long-standing feud with the Jesuits, against whom he harbored the deepest suspicions (he had incited Urban VIII, a close friend, against them) led to his being accused of heresy. He was arrested in Vienna at the end of 1655. The emperor's intervention secured his release the following February, whereupon he was sent to Salzburg, where he lived the rest of his life under virtual arrest in a monastery. The opposition of the Jesuits prevented Magni's elevation to the cardinalate. 6. Scientific Disciplines: Physics; Natural Philosophy; He was one of the pioneers with the Torricellian experiment and published an account of it, the Demonstratio ocularis (Warsaw, 1647). Magni also worked on a general philosophy opposed to Aristotle. Magni was first, foremost, and overwhelmingly a Catholic activist in the struggles of the counter-reformation. Although his scientific activities really existed, they were always decidedly subordinate to his religious activities. 7. Means of Support: Church Living; Secondary Means of Support: Academic; Patronage; He entered the Capuchin order in 1602, and was a preacher and instructor at Prague, Linz, and Vienna. In 1613 he was appointed to a chair of philosophy in the Austrian capital. He was sent to Poland in 1616 to establish the Capucins there. During 1620's he was novice-master at Linz, and professor of philosophy at Prague. 1622-1623, Hapsburg envoy to Paris. 1624, Franciscian provincial of Bohemia. 1625, emissary of the Boheniman Capucins to Italy. 1630, representative of the Emperor at the peace talks in Italy. During this time, from roughly 1622 to 1634, Magni functioned as the advisor to Archbishop Harrach of Prague. After 1634 he worked in Poland to consolidate the position of Catholic church. He was much in the favor of the king, who undertook to elevate him to the Cardinalate. He was in Italy (1642-1643, 1645), then in Poland (1646-1648), and subsequently in Vienna and Cologne. According to de Waard, in a slightly different version, Magni was named, in 1625, Prefect and Apostolic Vicar of the church's mission to Poland, Bohemia, Hungary, and Germany. He was sent to Salzburg about 1655 as a result of his long standing quarrel with the Jesuits, and remained there under virtual arrest in a monastery for the rest of his life. 8. Patronage: Court Patronage; Patronage of an Ecclesiatic Official; Magni was very close to Archbishop Harrach of Prague (later Cardinal Harrach) and functioned virtually as his deputy for an extended period. Harrach sent him on at least one mission to Rome. Obviously this relationship balances on the edge of the distinction between patronage and something else that is either employment or cooperation toward a shared goal. The sources on Magni are wholly silent about any benefits he might have received from Harrach, but knowing the practices of the period I find it impossible to believe that there were no benefits (or benefices). Sigismund III (Argellati says Vladislaus), the King of Poland. Magni helped to establish the Franciscan order in Poland at the request of the King, and the King later tried to obtain a cardinal's hat for him. Following the death of the King, he played a decisive part in the selection of a successor. When he was accused of heresy and arrested in 1655, the Emperor's intervention secured his release. He had earlier served the Emperor as an emisssary on more than one occasion. Urban VIII was a close friend of Magni, and was incited by him against the Jesuits in 1631. However, I have not seen any indication of favors to Magni from Urban. Magni was employed extensively by both Gregory XV and Urban. Magni dedicated De atheismo aristotelis, 1647. to Mersenne, but I do not see how to consider this under patronage. 9. Technological Connections: Non 10. Scientific Societies: The publication of his barometer experiment aroused great controversy in 1640's. SOURCES:
Not Available and Not Consulted: Dionisio
da Genova, Bibliotheca scriptorum ordinis minorum capuccinorum,
(1680), p. 460 (or p. 306). Nicolao Lucensi and Ludovico de Salice, 'Valerianus
Magni mediolanensis ordinis fratrum minorum capuccinorum provinciae Boemo-Austriacae
provincialis et missionarii apostolica vita et gesta,' in Annales capuccinorum
provinciae Bohemo-Moraviae, 4, 330-426.
Magnol, Pierre
1. Dates: Born: Montpellier, 8 June 1638; Died: 21 May 1715; Datecode: Lifespan: 77 2. Father: Pharmacology; His father was an apothecary. His grandfather, father, and brother were apothecaries. His mother came from a family of physicians. No information on financial status. 3. Nationality: Birth: French; Career: French; Death: French 4. Education: University of Montpellier; M.D. He matriculated in the University of Medicine at Montpellier 19 May 1655. He received his Bachelor's degree 28 August 1657. On 1 August 1658 he recieved his licentiate. 11 January 1659 he obtained his M.D. After receiving his degree he made a serious study of plants. 5. Religion: Calvinist; Catholic. In 1664 he was proposed for the position of demonstrator of plants. The appointment was refused because of his religion. Again in 1667 Magnol was a leading candidate for a professorial position at Montpellier and was denied the postion because of the King's policy to keep Protestants out of public office. He renounced his religion in October 1685. 6. Scientific Disciplines: Botany; Subordinate Disciplines: Pharmacology; In his Prodromus historiae generalis plantarum (1689), he was one of the first to classify plants in tables that made possible rapid identifications. He was the first to use the term 'family' in the sense of a natural group. In another work, Botanicum Monspeliense (Lyons, 1676), Magnol described 1354 species growing around the area. He almost always gave localities and frequently added notes on the medicinal or other uses. This work was the basis for the Linnaean dissertation on the Montpellier region in 1756. His other works include Hortus regius Monspeliensis (Montpellier, 1697), a catalog of his garden, and the posthumous published Novus caracter plantarum (1720). 7. Means of Support: Medicine; Government Official; Academic; After 1659 he began to botanize in the area around Montpellier, in Provence, and in the mountainous regions of the Pyrenees and the Alps. Although nothing is said, one must assume that Magnol was practicing medicine; he did stay alive, and his family was not wealthy. At some point in his life he did practice medicine. On 12 December 1663 Antoine Vallot, the doctor of the king and former doctor of Montpellier, obtained for Magnol a brevet de medecin royal, an honorary title with no royal function. In 1687 he became demonstrator of plants at the botanical garden of Montpellier. Since this was not an academic position, I treat it as governmental. He was appointed professor of medicine at the University of Montpellier in 1694. On 13 September 1694, Guy-Crescent Fagon, the doctor of the king, obtained for Magnol a brevet de professeur royal. Magnol occupied one of the four chairs established in 1498. In 1696 he was named director of the botanical garden. According to A. Leenhardt (Montpelliéraine médecines des rois, n.d., a work cited by others in the bibliography here), Magnol received lettres de noblesse at the same time as his directorship. He was one of the founding members of the Société Royale des Sciences de Montpellier (1706) and held one of the three chairs in botany. He was called to Paris in 1709 by the Académie royale des sciences (Paris); . 8. Patronage: Medical Practioner; Through Antoine Vallot, an influential court physician, he obtained a brevet de medecin royal in 1663. In 1667 the King opposed his nomination as professor of medicine at the University of Montpellier. Through Guy-Crescent Fagon, another, later, court physician, he obtained a brevet de professeur royal in 1694. Magnol dedicated his Prodromus to Fagon. According to A. Leenhardt, Magnol received lettres de noblesse in 1696. I do not know if Fagon was behind the appointment to the Académie, but I have not found anyone else mentioned. 9. Technological Connections: Medicine; Pharmacology; Part of Magnol's botanical studies was the medicinal properties of the plants he collected. 10. Scientific Societies: Académie royale des sciences (Paris); He was one of the founding members of the Société Royale des Sciences de Montpellier (1706) and held one of the three chairs in botany. He was called to Paris in 1709 to replace Tournefort at the Académie Royale des Sciences and was particularly warmly received there by Fontenelle. He established contacts with many French and Foreign botanists: John Ray, W. Sherard, and James Petiver in London; Hermann and Hotton in Leiden; Commelin in Amsterdam; the Rivinuses in Leipzig; Breyn in Danzig; J.H. Lavater in Zurich; Lelio and G.B. Triumpheti in Rome; G. Ciassi in Venice; Boccone in Palermo; Nappus in Strasbourg; J. Salvador in Barcelona; Jacob Spon in Lyons; and G.C. Fagon in Paris. SOURCES:
Not Available and Not Consulted: Robert
Zander, 'Pierre Magnol,' Das Gartenamt (Nov. 1959), pp. 245-6.
Magnitsky, Leonty Filippovich
1. Dates: Born: 9 June 1669; Died: 30 October 1739; Datecode: Lifespan: 70 2. Family: Peasant - Small Farmer; Magnitsky was the son of a poor peasant, Filipp Magnitsky of Tver province (today the Kalininskaya region). From his earliest days he was obliged to work. 3. Nationality: Birth: Russian; Career: Russian; Death: Russian. 4. Education: None Known; He learned to read and write in his childhood. In 1684 he was sent to the Iosifo-Volokolamsky Monastery. When he turned out to be literate, he was allowed to stay in the monastery to read sacred books. Later he was sent to the Simonov Monastery in Moscow to become a priest. From 1685 to 1694 he was at the Slavonic, Greek and Latin Academy in Moscow. (Although I do not know much about Russian religious orders, I strongly doubt that this education was similar to that in the West, and I am not listing it in the way that I would list education within the Jesuit or Dominican orders.) 5. Religion: Russian Orthodox 6. Scientific Disciplines: Mathematics; Navigation; His Arithmetic (1703) was the first guide to the new mathematics published in Russia. Combining the tradition of Russia mathematical literature of the 17th century with that of the western European mathematical schools, the work served as the basic texbook of mathematics in Russia for half a century. He also participated in the preparation of a Russia edition (1703) of the logarithmic table of Vlacq(1618). He co-edited Tables for Navigation (1722). 7. Means of Support: Schoolmaster; Patronage; From 1694 to 1701 he tutored the children of Moscow nobles. Peter I provided special monetary support for his work on Arithmetic; from 2 February 1701 to 1 January 1702, Magnitsky received forty-nine rubles. In 1704 Peter had a house built in Moscow for Magnitsky's family. Teacher at the Navigation School in Moscow, 1702-1715. Director of the Navigation school, 1715-1739, with a salary of 260 rubles a year. From 1733 he directed the office of the Moscow Academy. Magnitsky was one of many non-nobles to rise to prominence under Peter. 8. Patronage: Court Patronage; In 1701 Peter the Great founded the Navigation School in Moscow, and in 1702 Peter brought Magnitsky there to teach. Add all of the rest above. 9. Technological Connections: Navigation; Military Engineer; In addition to the work on navigation, in 1707, on the occasion of the Swedish invasion, Peter set Magnitsky to work on the fortifications of the city of Tver. 10. Scientific Societies: The Moscow Academy, in which Magnitsky appears to have been prominent, was not connected with the famous imperial academy in St. Petersburg. It was based rather on an earlier Kiev Academy. I am not listing it. SOURCES:
Not Consulted: A.P. Denisov, Leonty
Filippovich Magnitsky, (Moscow, 1967).
Maier, Michael
1. Dates: Born: Rensburg, Holstein, ca. 1568; Died: Magdeburg, 1622 (Note: This is misprinted as 1662 in the D.S.B.); Datecode: Birth Date Uncertain; Lifespan: 54 2. Father: Government Official; The D.S.B. says that he was probably the son of Johann Maier, an offical of the Duchy of Holstein. The Neue deutsche Biographie, on the other hand, says his father was Petrus Meier (d. < 1590), a gold embroiderer in the service of Heinrich Rantzaus, Danish governor of Schleswig-Holstein. A relation of his mother's, Severin Goebel, a well-known physician of Gdansk and Koenigsberg, financed his studies. No solid information on parents' financial status, although the information about his education seems to suggest that they were less than affluent. 3. Nationality: German; German; Germany; Birth: Rensburg, Holstein, Germany. Career: Germany; Death: Magdeburg, Germany. 4. Education: University of Rostock; University of Padua; University of Frankfurt (an Oder); M.A. University of Bologna; University of Basel; M.D. PhD; He studied first either in Rensburg or Kiel. 1587, University of Rostock. 1589, he was in Nuremberg. 1589-1591, he was in Padua with Goebel's son. (The Neue deutsche Biographie has him in Padua in 1595). 1592, University of Frankfurt a. d. Oder. He received an M.A. 1596, University of Bologna. 1596, University of Basel, where he received an M.D. It is not known where he got his Ph.D. 5. Religion: Lutheran 6. Scientific Disciplines: Alc 7. Means of Support: Medical Practioner; Secondary Means of Support: Schoolmaster; Patronage; I presume his trip to Padua with Goebel's son (1589-1591) was in the capacity of tutor/companion. 1590, he started practicing surgery without an academic degree (which doesn't seem surprising to me). Sometime between 1592-1596, he worked at Koenigsberg under the supervision of Severin Goebel. It seems that before 1600 he was a courtier of Rudolf II and a writer in the German chancellery. 1601, he entered his name on the roles of the University of Koenigsberg as Dr Phil. and Dr. Med., probably hoping for professional status, but he did not get it. 1601, he started a medical practice in the White Lion Inn, Gdansk, where he dispensed his own cures. Around 1608, he returned to Prague as a doctor. in 1609, he entered the service of the emperor. According to the D.S.B.: 1611 and 1612-1614 were periods of extensive travel, first around Saxony, then to England and Amsterdam. According to the Neue deutsche Biographie in 1611-1614, he 'entered himself' into the court of James I, where he remained for nearly five years. Around 1614, he became non-resident physician and chemist for the Kassel court to Landgrave Maurice of Hesse, but he retained his private practice. 1618, he travelled to Stockhausen, where he attended a wealthy nobleman named von Eriedesel, but he left his household in Frankfurt. 1618-1622, he became physician to Duke Christian Wilhelm of Magdeburg. 8. Patronage: Medicine; Court Patronage; Aristocratic Patronage; Patronage of an Ecclesiatic Official; Early in his life there was the physician Severin Goebel (see above). Though he was a relative, the relationship sounds like patronage. Sometime before 1600 he was probably a courtier to Emperor Rudolf II. Around 1612, he became physician-in-ordinary to Rudolf, though this appears to have been honorary because his name does not appear in court accounts. His family coat of arms was augmented by Rudolf and he was named Hofpfalzgraf (count Palantine) in 1609. A count Palantine was an imperial official who exercised a sort of supervision over the universities and had the right to grant doctorates and the title of poet laureate. Landgrave Maurice of Hesse was a patron to a certain extent. Maier met him in 1611 while fishing for a job. He dedicated a book to Maurice, whereupon he was appointed 'Medicus und Chymicus von Haus aus,' but even when he was appointed, he did not belong to Maurice's inner circle of alchemical practioners. The nobleman von Eriedesel presumably counts as a patron. He was physician to Duke Christian Wilhelm, Archbishop of Magdeburg and primate of Germany. Toward the end of his life, he attempted to cultivate the Danish Prince Friedrich III as a patron, but was not sucessful. He dedicated works to him. Some evidence exists that supports the idea that he was connected with the English court while in England. There are copies of Arcana Arcanissima (ca. 1614) with manuscript dedications to both Sir William Paddy, physician to James I, and Sir Thomas Smith, first governor of the East India Company and treasurer of the Virgina Company. 9. Technological Connections: Medical Practioner; 10. Scientific Societies: None SOURCES:
Maignan, Emanuel
1. Dates: Born: Toulouse, 17 July 1601; Died: Toulouse, 29 October 1676; Datecode: Lifespan: 75 2. Father: Aristocrat; Government Official; Maignan came from a prominent Armagnac family. His father was an advisor to the king and a senior member of the Chancelry. While it is nearly impossible to imagine that the family was not wealthy, I find no explicit reference to their financial status and prefer to list it as unknown. 3. Nationality: Birth: French; Career: France; Italian; Death: French 4. Education: Religious Orders; He was educated at the Maison des Pensionnaires by the Jesuits. He entered the order of Minims in 1619. He first studied philosophy under the renowned peripatetic, P. Ruffat. Later his interests turned to mathematics in which he was self taught. From his career it appears he must have had the equivalent of a B.A. 5. Religion: Catholic. He entered the order of Minims in 1619, and devoted much of his energy to the administrative and religious work of his order as well as to the education of the youths of Toulouse. 6. Scientific Disciplines: Physics; Subordinate Disciplines: Optics; Instruments; He participated in Rome in the important experiments which helped to establish the possibility of artificially creating a void space in nature and which influenced the work of Torricelli and others. His Cursus philosophicus (1653) provides one of the fullest accounts of these researches. His work in optics, instrument making and design, and various branches of physics is in need of reevaluation. His Perspective horaria (1648) is an extremely detailed and almost exhaustive discussion of sundials. 7. Means of Support: Church Living; He taught philosophy and theology at the Minim convent of Monte Pincio in Rome from 1636 to 1650. He was elected Corrector of Santa Trinita shortly after his arrival. His time in Italy was devoted mostly to teaching and experiments rather than to administrative duties. He was appointed by his superiors to a chair of mathematics in Rome. In 1650 he returned to Toulouse, where he spent most of the remainder of his time, devoting much of his energy to the administrative and religious work of his order. After his return to Toulouse, his superiors elected him provincial of Aquitaine. 8. Patronage: Government Official; Aristocratic Patronage; In 1648, Maignan dedicated his Perspective horaria to Spada, the 'protecteur' of his order. Berthier, de Feubert, and Donneville, all three presidents of the Parlement of Toulouse were 'protecteurs' of Maignan. Later in his life, Maignan was visited by King Louis XIV. The king was so impressed with the work Maignan carried out in his cell, which was a cross between a workshop and a lab, that the following day he sent Mazarin with an offer of a court post. Maignan was content with his simple life in Toulouse and wanted to avoid 'crainte d'etre attaché'. Perhaps Maignan was afraid his work would be compromised if he set up residence at court. Maignan did get to Paris, but not for a court appointment, rather to visit the salon of Montmor. 9. Technological Connections: Instruments; Maignan and Berti constructed an apparatus to demonstrate that a bell ringing in a Torricellian tube becomes inaudible when the air is removed. Maignan's Perspective gives a clear and full account of how to make the instruments for constructing dials and buffing instruments and the necessary steps in polishing lenses. Sun dials. 10. Scientific Societies: Maignan met Mersenne and was visited by him in Toulouse. Later in life Maignan visited the salon (or académie, as it is ofter call) of Montmor. SOURCES:
Not Available and/or Not Consulted: J.Saguens,
De
vita ... Emanuel Maignani, (Toulouse, 1703).
Maillet, Benoit de
1. Dates: Born: Saint-Mihiel, Lorraine, 12 April 1656; Died: Marseille, 13 January 1738; Datecode: Lifespan: 82 2. Father: Gentry; Le Mascrier calls Maillet a gentleman of Lorraine born to a distinguished and noble family. Maillet always realized, however, that he was not an aristocrat. This is the status I call gentry. Maillet clearly had some money; sometimes it seemed as though he had wealth. At the least the family must have been affluent. 3. Nationality: Birth: French; Career: France; ME; Death: French 4. Education: None Known; He received an excellent classical education. There is no mention of a university. 5. Religion: Catholic. Heterodox; His system was materialistic, and it denied that the Biblical chronology could be correct. 6. Scientific Disciplines: Geology; Subordinate Disciplines: Natural History; His major work, Telliamed ou entretiens d'un philosophe indien avec un missionaire francois sur la diminution de la mer, la formation de la terre, l'origine de l'homme, etc. (Amsterdam, 1748), in essence an ultraneptunian theory of the earth, was based largely on his geological field observations made during extensive travels throughout Egypt and other Mediterranean countries. He argued that the Biblical chronology could not be correct. His theory and ideas influenced many leading naturalists for almost a century. 7. Means of Support: Personal Means; Government Position; There is no mention in any account of what he did until he was thirty-five and was travelling in the Middle East. He must have been living on his personal means. 1692-1708, general consul of the king of France at Cairo. 1712-1717 (or perhaps 1702-08), consul in Leghorn. 1717-1720, inspector of French establishments in the Levant and the Barbary states. 1720 retired to Marseille on a handsome pension. 8. Patronage: Patronage of Government Official; After being appointed through the influence of his protector, Chancellor Pontchartrain, general consul of the king of France at Cairo in 1692, Maillet held different diplomatic positions for about thirty years. He once (1702) was chosen as the king's envoy to Ethiopia, but Maillet declined the position. Telliamed was dedicated to Cyrano de Bergerac-but it is established that the dedication was written by the Abbé Le Mascrier. 9. Technological Connections: None Known; 10. Scientific Societies: He was associated with Le Mascrier. SOURCES:
Mairan, Jean Jacques d'Ortous
de
1. Dates: Born: Béziers, 26 November 1678; Died: Paris, 20 February 1771; Datecode: Lifespan: 93 2. Father: Gentry; His family came from the minor nobility (which I am calling Gentry). His father, François d'Ortous died when Jean was four. His mother died in 1694, when he was not yet sixteen, leaving him to his own devices. Jean Jacques (and I assume his father) had the title of Lord (Sieur) of Mairan. Mairan's own career seems clearly to indicate that he had inherited means. Though orphaned, he had no visible income other than inherited means until he became a member of the Académie in 1719, when he was over forty. Hence I conclude that he grew up in circumstances at least affluent. 3. Nationality: Birth: French; Career: French; Death: French 4. Education: None Known; 1694-97, he studied in Toulouse. 1698-1702, he studied physics and mathematics in Paris, where Malebranche was one of his teachers. There is no mention of university or degree. 5. Religion: Catholic. (assumed) 6. Scientific Disciplines: Physics; Mechanics; Optics; Subordinate Disciplines: Mathematics; Org; He was concerned with a wide variety of subjects, including heat, light, sound, motion, the shape of the earth, and the aurora. His works include Dissertation sur les variations du barometre (Bordeaux, 1715), Dissertation sur la glace (Bordeaux, 1716), Dissertation sur la cause de la lumière des phosphores et des noctiluques (Bordeaux, 1717), and Dissertation sur l'estimation et la mesure des forces motrices des corps (1728). He also published a number of mathematical works. Mairan replaced Fontenelle as perpetual secretary of the Académie. He was its assistant director in 1721, '27, '36, '44, '59, and director in '22, '28, '45, '60. He was also editor of the Journal des scavants. 7. Means of Support: Personal Means; Government Official; Patronage; 1702, he returned home after his studies in Paris to Béziers, where he devoted himself to full-time study. He must have had some income from inherited property. His title was Lord (Sieur) of Mairan. He moved to Paris in 1718, but around 1723 he was back in Béziers for a few years. He became a member of the Académie des Sciences in 1719. Later he received official lodging in the Louvre. He remained a pensionnaire until 1743, and served as secretary from 1741 to 43. In 1746 he was reinstated as pensionnaire géomètre. It is reported that the Prince of Conti and other great lords heaped gifts upon him. He was also secretary to the Duke of Orleans. 8. Patronage: Ecclesiastic Official; Aristocratic Patronage; Court Patronage; Patronage of Government Official; At Béziers he ate every day with the Bishop of Béziers. When he later organized a society in Béziers, it was founded under the protection of Cardinal de Fleury. The Cardinal, with M. de Maurepas, chose Mairan to replace Fontenelle. Chancellor d'Aguesseau named him to edit the Journal des Scavants. The King gave his society in Béziers a pension of 500 livres. See his relations (above) with the Prince of Conti and the Duke of Orleans. 9. Technological Connections: Civil Engineering; After the Maritime Council commissioned the Académie, the Académie charged Mairan and Varignon in 1721 to investigate the gauging of ships in order, by means of an exact method, to prevent the complaints of commerce and the fraud of merchants. Mairan visited the ports of the Mediterranean in this capacity. In the end, the scheme of the Académie was not adopted. 10. Scientific Societies: Académie royale des sciences (Paris); Royal Society (London); Instit. Bologna; Russian Academy (St Petersburg); 1718, associé of the Académie; 1719, pensionnaire géomètre until his death (with an interlude from 1743-46). See above for his offices in the Académie. He also belonged to the Royal Societies of London, Edinburgh, and Uppsala, the Petersburg Academy, and the Institute of Bologna. With Jean Bouillet and Antoine Portalon, he founded his own scientific society in Béziers about 1723. SOURCES:
Not Available and Not Consulted: Abby R.
Kleinbaum, Jean Jacques Dortous de Mairan (1678-1771), Columbia
University Ph.D. diss., 1970.
Malebranche, Nicolas
1. Dates: Born: Paris, 5 August 1638; Died: Paris, 13 October 1715; Datecode: Lifespan: 77 2. Father: Government Official; His family had modest wealth. His father was a royal counsellor, from the rural bourgeoisie. He was the treasurer of five large farms. His mother belonged to the minor nobility. His brother-in-law was governor of Canada. His maternal uncle was a canon at Notre Dame. I accept the information that they were wealthy. Note that Malebranche apparently lived on the family wealth. 3. Nationality: Birth: French; Career: French; Death: French 4. Education: University of Paris; M.A. He entered the Collège de la Marche of the University of Paris in 1654, and received an M.A. in 1656. Then he studied theology at the Sorbonne for three years. He attended the lectures of the renowned peripatetic, M. Rouillard. He entered the Congregation of the Oratory in 1660. 5. Religion: Catholic. He entered the Congregation of the Oratory in 1660. He completed his novitiate at fauborg St. Jacques. From April-October 1661 he was at the house of Saumur where the focus was on intense philosophical and theological studies. In October he returned to the mother house in Paris. He was ordained priest in 1664. His family assured the money to support Malebranche. Yet, when Malebranche died he bequeathed his library, furniture, and some money to pay the rest of his board due. 6. Scientific Disciplines: Natural Philosophy; Subordinate Disciplines: Mathematics; Physics; Optics; His work De la recherche de la verité (1668), six editions of which were published during his lifetime, was made possible by the materials made available to him by the group surrounding Clerselier. With the Traité de la nature et de la grace (Amsterdam, 1680), he emerged as the creator of a new system of the world. The book's immediate goal was to refute Jansenist ideas concerning grace and predestination. The Traité was placed on the Index in 1690 while Malebranche was preparing the third edition. Malebranche was the mainspring for the spread and development of Cartesian mathematics. He insisted on a need for reform and fostered the introduction of Leibnizian mathematics. Though he holds no place in the history of mathematics for any discovery, most of the mathematics done at the end of the seventeenth century was due to Malebranche. 7. Means of Support: Personal Means; Secondary Means of Support: Church Living; Government Position; He was ordained priest in 1664. In 1674 he officially took on teaching duties in mathematics at the Congregation. He had students before this time. It is likely that his duties as a professor of mathematics lasted only a short time. In any case there is no further trace. By 1680, it had been several years since he had been assigned any specific duties. He devoted all his time to writing and to his role as mediator between theology and Cartesian natural philosophy. Every indication is that Malebranche lived on his inherited personal means. He became a member of the Académie in 1699. 8. Patronage: Unknown; By 1680, he had no official duties and was allowed to spend his time on his writing and research. In view of the fact that his family was supplying his support, I cannot see this as patronage. However, someone had to have stood behind the appointment to the Académie. There does not appear to have been any influential patron behind Malebranche. We are nearing the end of the age of patronage, and it appears that he operated without a patron for the most part. 9. Technological Connections: Non 10. Scientific Societies: Académie royale des sciences (Paris); 1699-1715; In reaction to Mariotte's Traité (1673), Malebranche wrote Mémoire sur la lumière which won him membership to the Académie. Although he was surpassed in ability even by his student, Preset, Malebranche encouraged others of greater ability to continue new research: Leibniz, Louis Carré, Reyneau among many others. SOURCES:
Malpighi, Marcello
1. Dates: Born: Crevalcuore (Bologna), 10 March 1628. Died: Roma, 29 November 1694 (If it matters, Fantuzzi says 30 November, and Fabroni 3 October.); Datecode: Lifespan: 66 2. Father: Unknown; Of the father we are told only that Marc-Antonio Malpighi was in comfortable circumstances, which I take to mean affluent. 3. Nationality: Birth: Italian; Career: Italian; Death: Italian 4. Education: University of Bologna; M.D., Ph.D. He completed his grammatical studies in 1645 at Bologna. In 1646 he matriculated the University of Bologna, where his tutor was Francesco Natali. On Natali's advice he began to study medicine in 1649. He first attended the school conducted by Bartolomeo Massari, then that of Andrea Mariani. He graduated as doctor of medicine and philosophy (in a familiar Italian pattern) in 1653. I assume a B.A. or its equivalent is implied in that. 5. Religion: Catholic. 6. Scientific Disciplines: Anatomy; Embryology; Mcr; Subordinate Disciplines: Botany; Physiology; Entomology; He first systematically and fruitfully exploited the microscope in anatomical and embryological research. His first and fundamental work is the De pulmonibus, two short letters he sent to Borelli in Pisa and which were published in Bologna in 1661. In these letters he announced his fundamental discoveries about the lung. The results of his researches on the fundamental structures of the brain and of the tongue, carried out by using marine animals, were published in a series of treatises in 1665-6. He reiterated and developed his theory of glandular structure in the epistolary dissertation De structura glandularum congloratarum consimiliumque partium (London, 1688). His chief hematological treatise, De polypo cordis, appeared in 1666 as an appendix to the De viscerum structura (Bologna, 1666). With the De formatione and the subsequent appendenx to it (1675), he brought a fine structural content to embryology. His Anatome plantarum (1675 and 1679) earned him acclaim as the founder of the microscopic study of plant anatomy. Malpighi also did fundamental work on the silk worm. He could also be listed under Medicine (there was a posthumous De recentiorum medicorum studio, a defense of rational medicine against empirics) and Zoology. 7. Means of Support: Academic; Medical Practioner; Secondary Means of Support: Patronage; Government Position; After completing his M.D. in 1653, Malpighi began to practice. 1656, lecturer in logic at the University of Bologna. 1656-9, professor of theoretical medicine at the University of Pisa. 1659-60, extraordinary lecturer on theoretical medicine at the University of Bologna, at salary of 500 lire. 1660-2, 1666-91, ordinary lecturer in practical medicine at Bologna, at salary of 500 lire before 1666, and of 1200 lire from 1666 to 1991. 1662-6, professor of medicine at the University of Messina, with a salary of 1000 scudi plus 300 scudi for travel expenses. 1666-91, medical practice at Bologna. 1691-4, chief physician to Pope Innocent XII at Rome. He was also appointed as Protomedico in Rome. In 1691, elected to the Accademia degli Arcadi at Rome. 8. Patronage: Court Patronage; City Magistrate; Aristocratic Patronage; Ecclesiastic Official; Sci; The Grand Duke, Ferdinand II, in 1656 offered him a chair in theoretical medicine at Pisa, and he accepted. How his reputation should have reached the Tuscan court is not known. The Assunti di Studio recommended in 1659 that his salary (at the University of Bologna) be increased by 300 lire in order to differentiate him from outsiders hired for primary chairs and customarily paid 400 lire. After his second return to Bologna, the Assunti di Studio again proposed an increase of 700 lire in his salary, the recommendation was adopted by the Senate on the same day, thus brought his salary to 1200 lire. I list this under Magistrates. He owed his position at Messina to Borelli, to whom he had dedicated his first book. It was Borelli's recommendation that was responsible for his election by the Messina Senate to the primary chair in medicine at Messina, which came sooner than might have been expected. Through Borelli's influence he received his reappointment in 1666. In Messina he lodged with Visconte Giacomo Ruffo Francavilla, and to the Visconte he dedicated a letter on the senses. Cardinal Pignatelli, who became Pope Innocent XII in 1685, wanted him to move to Rome, but he declined because of his poor health. Pope Innocent XII, who had as a Cardinal been the Papal legate to Bologna, called Malpighi to Rome as Protomedico in 1691 when he had just been elected to the papacy. With his appointment as cameriere segreto partecipante, he acquired clerical status as a monsignor and was thereafter addressed as Reverendissimo. 9. Technological Connections: Medicine; Instruments; Malpighi developed the techniques by which to apply the microscope to anatomical and embryological research. 10. Scientific Societies: Royal Society (London); Medical College (Any One); 1691-1694; In October 1667 Oldenburg composed a friendly letter to him and invited him to enter into scientific correspondence with the Royal Society of London. By this time he had already published some of his most important works. He replied in April 1668, and began his correspondence with the Royal Society, an association which lasted for the rest of his life. The Society subsequently supervised the printing of all his later works. He was elected FRS in 1669. He was elected to the College of Doctors of Medicine in Bologna in 1691. Malpighi's relationship with Borelli, which began in Pisa, was obviously important. He also maintained relations with Fracassati, Cornelio, and Steno. He was taken into the Arcadia in Rome. Adelmann has published Malpighi's correspondence in five volumes (Ithaca, 1975). SOURCES:
Not Available and Not Consulted: A. Gallassi,
'Studie e ricerche su Marcello Malpighi,'
Rivista di storia delle scienze,
41 (1950), 7-63. M. Anzalone, Marcello Malpighi e i sui scritti
sugli organi del respiro, (Bologan, 1966). E. Toffoletto, Discorso
su Malpighi, (Bologna, 1965).
Manfredi, Eustachio
1. Dates: Born: Bologna, 20 September 1674; Died: Bologna, 15 February 1739; Datecode: Lifespan: 65 2. Father: Law; Alfonso Manfredi was a notary, i.e., a lawyer; It is clear that the father was in some sort of financial stringency, and partly for this reason he pressed Manfredi to study law. Later on greater financial stringencies of the father would bear upon Manfredi. However, all things are relative. I note that in addition to Eustachio, two other sons went to the university and became professors, while as fourth son became a Jesuit. There is no way in which they could have been poor. I put them down as affluent. 3. Nationality: Birth: Bologna, Italy; Career: Bologna, Italy; Death: Bologna, Italy 4. Education: University of Bologna; L.D. B.A. assumed; He began his studies at the Jesuit college at Bologna, encouraged by his father to study philosophy. He studied mathematics and hydraulics with Domenico Guglielmini, and taught himself astronomy. 1692, took a double doctorate in canon and civil law, but never practiced. 5. Religion: Catholic. 6. Scientific Disciplines: Astronomy; Hydrology. Subordinate Disciplines: Mathematics; Manfredi's publications were heavily in astronomy. However, he also wrote a number of opinions on hydraulic questions (which were published in the collections on that subject), and he editted Guglielmini's work on rivers. 7. Means of Support: Academic; Government Position; Secondary Means of Support: Schoolmaster; Org; 1698 (99 in some sources), lecturer in mathematics, University of Bologna. Obliged by family financial difficulties he took two jobs: 1704-1711, pro-rector of the pontifical college (in Bologna), College Montalto, for the education of clerics. 1704-1739, superintendent of waters in the Bologna region. 1711, appointed astronomer at the recently founded Institute of Sciences. He resigned the position at College Montalto. 8. Patronage: Aristocratic Patronage; Patronage of an Ecclesiatic Official; When Manfredi was oppressed by the financial problems of his father, the Marquis Orsi came to his assistance and enabled him to continue his studies. Orsi apparently continued to be his patron. Count Marsili put a small telescope in his possession at the disposal of Manfredi. Perhaps it was the influence of Orsi and Marsili that stood behind the appointments in Bologna. Somehow I gained the impression of others, but they are not named. Marsili was responsible for the appointment as astronomer at the Institute. The republic of Lucca wanted to put Manfredi in charge of its rivers, and the Holy Roman Emperor wanted to appoint Manfredi as his mathematician, but neither of these appointments came to pass. Cardinal Alberoni called him to Ravenna to deal with the damage caused by rivers. 9. Technological Connections: Hydraulics; c. 1690, he frabricated his own astronomical instruments, but there is no indication I found that he was responsible for any innovation here. For years he was the superintendent of waters for Bologna. In that position he appears to have been the principal agent behind the planned diversion of the Reno into the Po that upset everyone outside of Bologna. He went to Ravenna to repair damage caused by rivers and to advise on planned diversions. He was called to Rome to advise on draining the Pontine Marches, and to the Val di Chiana and to Lucca on questions of hydraulics. 10. Scientific Societies: Académie royale des sciences (Paris); Royal Society (London); Instit. Bologna; 1690, he founded his own scientific academy, the Accademia degli Inquieti, a private institution that became the Academy of Sciences of the Institute of Bologna in 1714. Foreign member of the Académie (1726) and member of the Royal Society (1729). He became a member of the Bologna 'colony' of the Arcadia in 1699 and (as a literary figure) of the Accademia della Crusca in 1706. Manfredi corresponded extensively with many of the leading mathematicians of Europe. SOURCES:
Not Available and Not Consulted: F.M. Zanotti,
Elogio
del dottor Eustachio Manfredi (Verona, 1739). G.P. Zanotti,
Vita
di Eustachio Manfredi (Bologna, 1745).
Maraldi, Giacomo Filippo
1. Dates: Born: Perinaldo, Imperia, Italy, 21 August 1665; Died: Paris, 1 December 1729 Datecode: Lifespan: 64 2. Father: No Information. No information on financial status. 3. Nationality: Italy; France; French; Birth: Perinaldo, Imperia, Italy; Career: Paris, France; Death: Paris, France 4. Education: None Known; Studied classics and mathematics, not known where, finishing around 1687. There is no mention of a university or of a degree. 5. Religion: Catholic. : Catholic (assumed) 6. Scientific Disciplines: Astronomy; Cartography; Subordinate Disciplines: Natural History; 7. Means of Support: Governmental position; 1687-1718, worked at the Paris Observatory compiling a new catalogue of stars. From 1702, a member of the Académie 8. Patronage: Sci; He was called to Paris by his uncle, Cassini I. He became his devoted collaborator, his work was very much influenced by Cassini I's opinions. Later, he collaborated with Cassini II as well. 1701, went to Rome to work on calendar for Pope Clement XI, but as far as I can tell did not. He helped Bianchi with the determination of the meridian of the church of the Carthusians. 9. Technological Connections: Cartography; 1700 & 1701, helped Cassini II, J.M. de Chazelles, and Piere Couplet on the project to extend the Paris meridian to the southern border. 1718, helped Cassini II and G. de la Hire extend the survey of the Paris Meridian to the north. 10. Scientific Societies: Académie royale des sciences (Paris); First a student (1694), then an associate (1699), and finally a pensioner (1702) of the Académie. SOURCES:
Marchant, Jean
1. Dates: Born: 1650; Died: Paris, 11 November 1738; Datecode: Lifespan: 88 2. Father: Sci; His father was Nicolas Marchant, botanist in the Académie and director of horticulture of the Jardin royale. No information on financial status 3. Nationality: Birth: French; Career: French; Death: French 4. Education: None Known; 5. Religion: Catholic. 6. Scientific Disciplines: Botany; He devoted almost all his life's work to the preparation of the Histoire des plantes. When the Académie decided to give up the project, he continued to prepare botanical descriptions. Although the greater part of this work remained unpublished, some fifteen of his notices did appear in the Academy's memoires. Among these, his 'Observations sur la nature des plantes' deals with the notion of partial transformism among plants, thus foreshadowing one of the tenets of evolution. 7. Means of Support: Government Official; Patronage; He was elected member of the Académie in 1678 and succeeded his father as concierge et directeur de la culture des plantes du Jardin Royal. He held the position at the royal garden until 1694 when its funding was cut and it was dissolved. He received the royal pension that the government granted him for his work in the preparation of the Histoire des plantes until 1694. Indeed he received a royal pension of 1200 livres, and occasionally 1500, from 1666-77 and from 1680-90. 1699, pensionnaire of the Académie. (This I do not understand: I thought that all members were pensionnaires. Perhaps this refers to reappointment upon the reorganization of the Académie.) 8. Patronage: Court Patronage; He was appointed director of the royal garden, and was granted a royal pension for his research. Formally the king appointed him pensionnaire in 1699. I hardly know how to list this. Someone else was probably involved. Indeed his appointment would seem to go back to whoever had been the protector of his father. 9. Technological Connections: None Known; 10. Scientific Societies: Académie royale des sciences (Paris); 1678-; 1678, académicien botaniste, replacing his father. 1699, pensionnaire botaniste, premier titulaire. SOURCES:
Marchant, Nicolas
1. Dates: Born: unknown; Died: Paris, June 1678; Datecode: Birth Date Unknown; Lifespan: 2. Father: unknown; No information on financial status 3. Nationality: Birth: French; Career: French; Death: French 4. Education: University of Padua; M.D. Received his M.D.from the University of Padua. 5. Religion: Catholic. 6. Scientific Disciplines: Botany; He devoted the last ten years of his life to the preparation of the Histoire des plantes, undertaken in 1667 by the Académie. He prepared a large number of descriptions for this project which was never published, being abandoned by the Academy in 1694. He collaborated in editing the Mémoire pour servir à l'histoire des plantes (1676). He was the first botanist to take up the study of lower plants. 7. Means of Support: Government Official; Patronage; Following his university training he became apothecary to Gaston, Duke of Orleans, the brother of Louis XIII. After the death of the Duke (1660), he entered the service of the King, although it is not known what his title or function in the royal household was. He was a member, and remained until 1673 the only botanist, of the Académie. 1674-78, Director of horticulture in the Jardin du Roi, a post created explicitly for him. 8. Patronage: Court Patronage; Patronage of Government Official; He was apothecary to the Duke of Orleans, the brother of the Kking. Upon the death of the Duke he entered the service of the King. According to Nouvelle biographie générale, Marchant was the premier botanist to the Duke of Orleans. The Duke obtained the direction of the Jardin du Roi for him. However, it is also stated that Colbert created the position at the Jardin for him. I suppose these two statements are not necessarily contradictory. 9. Technological Connections: Pharmacology; 10. Scientific Societies: Académie royale des sciences (Paris); 1666-78. Marchant was one of the founding members of the Académie. Note also his position at the Jardin du Roi. The Laissus article below gives information on the group of men doing botanical research at the Jardin. SOURCES:
Not Available and Not Consulted: Nicolas-Francois-Joseph
Eloy, Dictionaire histoirique de la médecine ancienne et moderne...,
3,
(Mons, 1778), pp. 159-60.
Marci of Kronland, Joh. M. [Marcus
Marci]
1. Dates: Born: Landskroun, Bohemia, 13 June 1595; Died: Prague, 10 April 1667; Datecode: Lifespan: 72 2. Father: Estate Administration; His father was a secretary to an aristocrat. At one point I listed this as 'scribe.' He was the administrator of the estate, however, so that 'miscellaneous' seems better. 3. Nationality: Birth: Czechoslovak; Career: Czechoslovak; Death: Cz 4. Education: University of Prague; M.D. He received his early education at the Jesuit college in Jindrichuv Hradec, then studied philosophy and theology in Olomouc and, from 1618 on, medicine in the Prague Faculty of Medicine. He received his M.D. in 1625. Although Marci had started Jesuit training, he left after completing his novitiate and without going through the full intellectual formation (which included a doctorate in theology) of a Jesuit. 5. Religion: Catholic. He wished to become a priest and a Jesuit, and took a staunchly Catholic position during the forced civil re-Catholicization of Bohemia and Moravia (1625-1626). But he represented the anti-Jesuit party in the affairs of Prague University. To gain support at the Vatican for his party's purpose, which was to prevent the Jesuits from gaining control of the medical and legal faculties, he took a diplomatic trip to Italy in 1639. He retained his academical position even after the university merged with the Jesuit institution to become Charles-Ferdinand University. He became rector of the university in 1662. According to Jesuit sources he was admitted to the Society shortly before his death. 6. Scientific Disciplines: Medicine; Mechanics; Optics; Subordinate Disciplines: Mathematics; His most important work was accomplished in medicine and physics. The De proportione motus (1639) contained his theory of the collision of bodies and gave an account of the experiments whereby he reached it. He also carried out research in optics, setting down most of his results in Thaumantias liber de arcu coelesti (1648). Also Disssertatio de natura iridis (1650). His medical works involved philosophical as well as theological problems. He was a follower of the school of Paracelsus. He renewed the idea that an organic body develops from a semen. The powers of a creative spirit are put into individuals by God in the process of creating the world. Every individual can renew himself. In all, a Platonic-Stoic conception of nature close to van Helmont and Leibniz. He devoted particular attention to questions of what would now be termed neurology, physiology and psychophysiology, in treatises that have not yet been fully evaluated. He also tried to adopt a purely medical approach to disease and to analyze critically both previous descriptions of epileptic fits and existing theories of their origin. 1636, Idearum operaticum idea. 1662, Philosophia vetus restituta. 1683, Othosophia seu philosophia impulsus universalis. 1650, De longitudine seu differentia inter duos meridianos. 7. Means of Support: Academic; Medicine; Patronage; Professor of medicine at Prague University, 1620-1660. I am assuming that like virtually every other professor of medicine he also practiced. Rector of Charles-Ferdinand University, 1662-1667. 1658, personal physician to Emperor Ferdinand III and later to Leopold I. 8. Patronage: Court Patronage; He was physician to the court. See above. He took the active part in defending the city against the Swedes, and was knighted for merit in 1654. He had friendships with well known figures such as Bohuslav Balbin (a prominent Czech intellectual) whom he cured of a dangerous disease, Caramuel y Lobkovitz, and the historian Stransky, but there is no indication of anything called patronage in these relations. 9. Technological Connections: Medicine; I would like to know more about that treatise on longitude, which sounds like cartography. 10. Scientific Societies: Friendship and correspondence with Paul Guldin and Athansius Kircher. SOURCES:
Not Available and Not Consulted: 'Bibliografie
Jana Marks Marci', Zpravy Cs. spolecnosti pro dejiny ved a techniky,
nos.9-10 (1968), pp.107-19.
Mariotte, Edme
1. Dates: Born: Chazeuil, c. 1620; Died: Paris, 21 May 1684; Datecode: Birth Date Uncertain; Lifespan: 64 2. Father: Estate Administration; He was the son of Simon Mariotte and Catherine Denisot. His father was a seigneurial officer of the bailliage of Til-Chatel in the service of Charles d'Escars, Baron of Aix, conseiller, and captain of the army of the Ordonnances du Roi. Simon Mariotte served two successors to d'Escars. No information on financial status. 3. Nationality: Birth: France; Career: France; Death: France. 4. Education: None Known. There are no clues to his scientific education. A letter to Huygens concerning Mariotte's nomination to the Académie suggests that he was self-taught. 5. Religion: Catholic. Indirect evidence places him as titular abbot and prior of St. Martin de Beaumont sur Vingeanne. Mariotte's precise ecclesiastical standing is uncertain. He did take the tonsure in 1634. 6. Scientific Disciplines: Physics; Mechanics; Optics; Subordinate Disciplines: Botany; Hydraulics; Mtr; Mariotte's work on plant physiology drew the attention of the Académie soon after its founding in 1666. He held the 'singular doctrine' that sap circulated through plants in a manner analogous to the circulation of blood in animals. Mariotte had a wide range of interests including mathematics, geometrical optics, hydrostatics, and the laws of impact. At the Académie he participated in several of the investigations both inside and outside his area of speciality. He participated in the installation of the the hydraulic system at Versailles and directed some important hydraulic experiments at the chateau de Condé in Chantilly and at the Observatory. He conducted experiments on the refraction of light, barometric changes, and falling bodies among many others. With Cassini and Picard he examined a work on navigation and the problem of longitude. The strength of his work was in his ability to recognize the importance of results, confirming them by new and careful experiments, and drawing out the implications of the results. In 1668 he wrote, Nouvelle découverte touchant la veue, on optics and his experiments to locate the blind spot in vision. Traité de la percussion ou choc des corps (1673), became a standard work on the subject of laws of inelastic and elastic impact. Mariotte's law (i.e., Boyle's Law) appeared in his De la nature de l'air (1679) in which he described the isothermal behavior of an enclosed mass of air. Mariotte's final work published posthumously (1686), Traité du mouvement des eaux et des autres corps fluides, treated the theory of the motion of bodies in a resisting medium using natural springs, artificial fountains, and the flow of water through pipes as his topic. 7. Means of Support: Unknown; Government Official; Secondary Means of Support: Church Living; He had to live somehow before he became part of the Académie. Mariotte spent the majority of his time conducting experiments and investigations for the Académie. It is possible that his position at the abby provided some income. 8. Patronage: Court Patronage; Patronage of Government Official; As a member of the Académie he was involved in the investigations for waterworks at Versailles and various other royal interests from examining navigational works to projectile motion. I'd like to know more about that project at Versailles, but it is highly unlikely that any such task could have remained outside the system of patronage. Colbert instructed a group of the members to conduct research on the problems of ballistics. Again I would like to know more, but it sounds once more like patronage. In 1679 Carcavi proposed that a complete work on optics be made by Mariotte, Picard, and La Hire. This one doesn't sound like patronage. 9. Technological Connections: Hydraulics; Navigation; Military Engineer; Instruments; In 1672 Mariotte published, Traité du nivellement, a work describing a new form of level using the surface of free-standing water as the horizontal reference and employing a reflection mark on the sight stick to gain greater accuracy in sighting. He gave full instructions for the instrument's use and discussed its accuracy with respect to other levels. See also above. 10. Scientific Societies: Académie royale des sciences (Paris); 1666-1684 Mariotte entered the Académie as a physicist but was soon sharing in the work of the mathematicians. His work was known to the Royal Soiety and cited in Newton's Principia. Mariotte recognized the important role that international cooperation could play in science. He sent for information and shared information with societies in London, Warsaw, Constantinople, and in Spain and Italy. SOURCES:
Markgraf [Marcgraf], Georg
1. Dates: Born: Liebstadt, Saxony, 20 September 1610; Died: Dutch settlement in Luanda, Africa, 1644 Datecode: Death Date Uncertain; Lifespan: 34 2. Father: a schoolmaster; No information on financial status. 3. Nationality: Germany; Dutch; Dutch; Birth: Liebstadt, Saxony, Germany; Career: Dutch settlement in South America; Death: Dutch settlement in Luanda, Africa 4. Education: University of Leiden; Educated at home by his father, headmaster of Liebstadt school. 1627, he began to travel and study throughout Germany, visiting about ten different universities. 1636, matriculated at the University of Leiden. Worked there at astronomy for two years. No mention of a degree. 5. Religion: Calvinist; In fact his religion is unknown, but Calvinist is likely enough that I assume it. 6. Scientific Disciplines: Astronomy; Botany; Zoology. Subordinate Disciplines:Cartography; 7. Means of Support: Patronage (from Maurice of Nassau); 1638, sailed with military and exploratory expedition to Dutch settlements in Brazil under Maurice. He had been recommended to Maurice by Jan de Laet, a director of the West Indies Company. 1644, left South America for Dutch settlements in East Africa, where he died of yellow fever. 8. Patronage: Merchant, Court; The expedition was under the leadership of Maurice of Nassau (of the Dutch ruling family), who appears to have assembled an intellectual court of sorts. Markgraf was recruited, initially by de Laet, as an astronomer to accompany the expedition. Maurice established an observatory for him at Recife, from which came the first serious study of the southern sky. He composed a manuscript treatise. He also mapped the region and carried out a study of its natural history. When Markgraf died, he had already given all his collections and notes over to Maurice, who had taken them back to the Netherlands. 9. Technological Connections: Military Engineer; Cartography; The expedition founded the town of Mauritzstad and built the castle of Vrijburg (in the tower of which Markgraf had an observatory) on Antonio Vaz island (Recife). Markgraf drew up the plan of the city and its fortifications, and mapped the region from Rio Sao Francisco to Ceara and Maranhao. 10. Scientific Societies: None SOURCES:
Not Consulted: E.W. Gudger, an article
on Markgraf in Popular Science Monthly, 9 (1912). P.J.P. Whitehead,
'Georg Markgraf and Brazilian Zoology,' in E. van den Boogaart, ed. Johan
Maurits van Nassau-Siegen, 1604-1679: A Humanist Prince in Europe
and Brazil, (The Hague: Johan Maurits van Nassau Stichting, 1979),
pp. 424-71.
Marsili [Marsigli], Luigi Ferdinando
1. Dates: Born: Bologna, 20 July 1658 (if it matters, Fantuzzi says 10 July); Died: Bologna, 1 November 1730; Datecode: Lifespan: 72 2. Father: Aristocrat; Marsili was from a noble family of Bologna. His mother was also from a noble family, the Ercolani. Marsili's elder brother was a Monsignor in the Church. In view of Marsili's own personal means later, the family had to have been at least affluent. 3. Nationality: Birth: Italian; Career: Italy; Germany; French; Death: Italian 4. Education: None Known; He did not complete his formal schooling, but he accumulated a vast knowledge of history, politics, geography, and the natural sciences. However, he never acquired a good literary education and never wrote with elegance. He studied informally with Malpighi and mathematics with Montanari. 5. Religion: Catholic. 6. Scientific Disciplines: Natural History; Geography; Org; Subordinate Disciplines: Geology; Mineralogy; He undertook the exploration of two basic subjects: the structure of mountains and the natural condition of the sea, lakes, and rivers. He left many local observations concerning the structure of mountains. In 1724 he published the first treatise on oceanography, Histoire physique de la mer. In it he examined every aspect of the subject, including the physical (or geological) formation of basins and the plants and fish that lived in the sea. Marsili also wrote an early work in limnology, on Lake Garda. He also wrote a basic work on one of the Europe's greatest river, Danubius (1726), in which he discussed the riverbed and waters, as well as the flora and fauna, and the mineralogy and geology of the adjacent land. He founded the Accademia delle scienze dell'Istituto di Bologna in 1712. 7. Means of Support: Personal Means; Patronage; Mis; As a young man scarcely twenty, in Rome, he was employed by Queen Christina (of Sweden) and by Card. De Luca in a diplomatic mission-testimony to his social standing and in itself evidence that he had sufficient personal means. Later in life he had extended troubles with his brother about Marsili's acts in donating his estate to Bologna for the Institute. After he surrendered Breisach and was dismissed in dishonor in 1704, it is clear that he lived on his personal means. He served in the army of Emperor Leopold I, partly as an engineer, from 1682 to 1704, and attained high rank. He was used by the Emperor on diplomatic missions to the Pope and in peace negotiations with the Turks. Nothing illuminates the exact nature of Marsili's recompense here. Much of it depended on what I call patronage. As mentioned above, this employment ended in dishonor when Marsili was involved in the surrender of Breisach. If it matters, it does appear that a great injustice was done to him. In 1708, when imperial troops threatened the Papal States during the War of the Spanish Succession, Marsili headed the Papal army. And later, about 1715, he inspected the defenses of the Papal States against possible Turkish raids on the Adriatic coast. He spent considerable time during his retirement along the French coast near Marseilles. Much of his study of the sea stems from these stays. 8. Patronage: Court Patronage; Ecclesiastic Official; Government Official; City Magistrate; Merchant Patronage; Early, when he was in Rome before he took service with the Emperor, Marsili won the favor of Queen Christina of Sweden, to whom he dedicated his first work. At that time he also gained the favor of several Cardinals who recommended him to the Emperor, opening the way to imperial favor for him. Cardinal De Luca even employed him as a diplomatic representative to Venice. Marsili's long service to the Emperor was of course his principal patronage. Especially in the late 80's, he won the favor of Count Stalmen, the Chancellor. Marsili dedicated his work on coffee, 1685, to Bonvisi, the Papal nunzio to the Emperor. When he returned to Bologna after his disgrace, the King of Spain, through his governor, restored Marsili's right to wear a sword. The Pope not only made use of Marsili's military capacity, but he furnished valuable financial assistance that made the establishment of the Institute of Bologna possible. Later, when family quarrels over Marsili's disposition of the family inheritance for the Institute left him in a difficult financial situation, the Pope gave him a large gift. When it appeared that Marsili, angered over lack of support for his Institute, would leave Bologna and take his collection with him, the Senate presented him with a silver bowl and encouraged him to stay. However, the city did not come up with the money necessary for this Institute, though it did encourage him to apply to the Pope. After some hesitation, I will list this item as patronage. The Dutch East India Company published Marsili's Physical History of the Sea in 1725. He dedicated the work to the Académie Royale, of which he became a member in 1715, replacing Viviani. 9. Technological Connections: Military Engineer; Cartography; Hydraulics; Civil Engineering; As a young military man he advised on fortifications along the Turkish frontier along the Raab and mapped the area for the purpose. Work on fortifications continued to be a constant part of his military career. Occasionally the work involved diversion of water. He drew a plan of Buda after the imperial forces recaptured it in 1686. He drew up maps for the peace negotiations with the Turks that began in 1688-9. Marsili appears to have been a born cartographer. He mapped everything he dealt with. His work on the Danube contains twenty maps. At the Peace of Carlowitz (with the Turks) in 1699 Marsili was designated to determine the exact border. He left behind a collection of more than a thousand maps, many of them his own work. As a military man he also built bridges. The work on the Danube contains extensive hydrographic discussions. When the Reno flooded in 1715, the Senate of Bologna sought Marsili's opinion on the plans elaborated to correct the problem. This was the scheme to diver the Reno into the Po. Marsili went on to write a treatise on the issue in general rather than technical terms. 10. Scientific Societies: Instit. Bologna; Académie royale des sciences (Paris); Royal Society (London); Marsili participated in the Accademia degli Inquieti in Bologna. In 1702 he built an observatory in his palace and installed Manfredi in it. He collected a museum. In 1712 he founded the Academia delle Scienze dell'Istituto di Bologna, which under his influence, immediately became an active center of scientific research, consisting mainly of natural history exploration of the area around Bologna. The Institute absorbed in Accademia degli Inquieti. In founding the Institute, Marsili gave it his collection and gave his house to the city for the Institute; it was this bequest that started the unpleasant struggle with his brother. In 1715, a member of the Académie Royale des Sciences, replacing Viviani. He was a member also of the Académie Royale des Sciences of Montpellier. He went to London in 1722 to be made a member of the Royal Society (London); . Newton insisted on presenting him personally and praised him as both an already famous scientist and a founder of the new Academy of Bologna. SOURCES:
Not Available and Not Consulted: G. Fantuzzi,
Memorie
della vita del generale conte L.F. Marsili, (Bologna, 1770). A Fabroni,
Vitae
italiorum doctrina excellentium, 5, 6. Luigi Ferdinando Marsili,
Relazioni
dei confini della Croazia e della Transilvania a sua Maestà Cesarea
(1699-1701), ed. Raffaella Gherardi, 2 vols. (Modena, 1986).
Martinez, Crisostomo
1. Dates: Born: Valenica, 1638; Died: Flanders, 1694; Datecode: Lifespan: 56 2. Father: No Information. No information on financial status. 3. Nationality: Birth: Spanish; Career: Spanish, French; Death: Belgian 4. Education: None Known; Clearly no university education. He was born into an artisan family and was apprenticed as a painter-engraver-furniture decorator. 5. Religion: Catholic by assumption. 6. Scientific Disciplines: anatomy, physiology, microscopy. Subordinate Disciplines: embryology; His microscopical anatomical work, especially of bone structure, puts him among the leading early microscopists. 7. Means of Support: Miscellaneous, patronage; Until about forty, Martinez was known as an engraver and painter; About 1680 he began to work on an anatomical atlas, for the completion of which he obtained (with the assistance of the authorities in Valenica and its university) royal support in 1686. He went to Paris, in 1687 where he resided in the Collège de Montaigue and was in touch with Parisian scientific circles. Because of the War of the League of Augsburg, he was accused of spying and had to leave Paris for Flanders in 1690. There is no firm knowledge of him after that except for an assertion by one who knew him that he died in 1694. 8. Patronage: City Magistrates, Court; See the group that got his subvention from the royal government. 9. Technological Connections: None known. 10. Scientific Societies: He was in informal touch with university circles in Valencia, and then with relevant people in the Académie in Paris. No formal society. SOURCES:
Not Available and Not Consulted: P. Demaitre,
'Un anatomiste espagnol à Paris au XVIIe siecle. Martinez,' Médicine
de France, no. 154 (1964), 10-15. J. Vives Ciscar, Bosquejor biografico
del pintor y grabador valenciano C. Martines, (Valencia, 1890).
Massa, Niccolo
1. Dates: Born: Venice, 1485; Died: Venice, 27 August 1569; Datecode: Lifespan: 84 2. Father: No Information. No information on financial status. 3. Nationality: Birth: Italian; Career: Italian; Death: Italian 4. Education: University of Padua; M.D. He studied medicine and graduated with an M.D. from the University of Padua. I assume a B.A. or its equivalent. 5. Religion: Catholic. He was buried in S. Domenico di Castello. 6. Scientific Disciplines: Anatomy; Medical Practioner; He undertook a program of dissection and investigation of the human body at least from 1526 to 1533, producing a treatise entitled Liber introductorius anatomiae (Venice, 1536), which remained the best brief textbook on the subject for a generation. He also wrote on pestilential fevers, on syphilis, and on medicine in general. 7. Means of Support: Medical Practioner; He practiced medicine in Venice, where he was known chiefly as a clinician and syphilologist. 8. Patronage: None Known. 9. Technological Connections: Medicine. 10. Scientific Societies: Medical College (Any One); He entered the Venetian College of Physicians in 1521. SOURCES:
Mattioli [Mattiolo], Pietro Andrea
Gregorio [Pierandrea]
1. Dates: Born: Siena, 12 March 1501 (if it matters, Cappelletti says 14 March)); Died: Trento, Jan/Feb 1577; Datecode: Lifespan: 76 2. Father: Medical Practioner; His father, Francesco Mattioli, was a physician. As always, I assume affluence. 3. Nationality: Birth: Italian; Career: Italy; Czechoslovak; German; Death: Italian 4. Education: University of Padua; M.D. He was sent to Padua to study Greek and Latin, astronomy, geometry, philosophy, but especially law. However, he turned there to medicine. He received a degree in medicine at the University of Padua in 1523. I assume a B.A. or its equivalent. Later he studied surgery under Gregorio Caravita at Perugia. About 1520 he moved to Rome to continue his medical study. Capparoni puts the stay in Perugia and the move to Rome after the M.D., which makes eminent sense; without being explicit about dates, Cappelletti seems to place Perugia and Rome after the M.D. in the same way. However, the DSB, on what grounds I do not know, sounds quite definite about the dates. 5. Religion: Catholic. 6. Scientific Disciplines: Medicine; Botany; Pharmacology; Subordinate Disciplines: Gog; In 1544 he published Di Pedacio Dioscoride anazarbeo li |