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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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Vaillant, Sebastien 1. Dates: Born: Vigny, Val d'Oise, 26 May 1669; Died: Paris, 20 May 1722 (Niceron says 26 May); Datecode: Lifespan: 53 2. Father: Peasant - Small Farmer; Vaillant came from a family of farmers. Niceron says the father was a merchant, but I am sticking with the later sources. Niceron says that the father had very little wealth and worried about his son's interest in a subject lacking utility. I am accepting the statement, which seems to be borne out by Vaillant's career; they were poor. 3. Nationality: Birth: France; Career: France; Death: France; 4. Education: None Known; At the age of six he was a boarder studying under M. Subtil, a priest with whom he made regular botanical trips. At eleven he was the organist at a Benedictine monastery. He studied medicine and surgery at the hospital in Pontoise. 5. Religion: Catholic. 6. Scientific Disciplines: Botany; After he got to Paris, Vaillant came in from Neuilly, where he practised as a surgeon, every Wednesday to attend Tournefort's courses at the Jardin du Roi. He also made several botanical expeditions with him. He became an astute plant analyst and began a systematic anatomical study of all the plants in Tournefort's Institutiones. Over a fourteen year period many scientists accompanied Vaillant on botanical excursions notably along the coasts of Normandy and Brittany. Apart from his fieldwork he concentrated on careful dissections of plants. His premature death prevented the publication of some of his manuscripts, notably his inaugural lecture in which he presented irrefutable evidence on the existence of plant sexuality. He was the first in France to promote the theory of sexuality of plants. When he was near death he gave his notes and plates to Boerhaave for publication. In 1727 Boerhaave published Botanicon parisiense, the culmination of thirty-six years of Vaillant's botanical research. 7. Means of Support: Medicine; Patronage; Government Official; In 1688, Vaillant began to practice surgery at Evreux under supervision. Two years later Marquis de Goville convinced Vaillant to become the surgeon to his company of troops. The following year, after the death of the Marquis, Vaillant moved to Paris to become an intern at the Hotel Dieu. He met Tournefort at once. In 1692, while still working at the Hotel Dieu, he established himself as a surgeon in Neuilly. He soon left Neuilly to become secretary to Pere de Valois, a Jesuit, who was confessor to the Duke de Bourgogne. Fagon met Vaillant, and soon he became Fagon's personal secretary. His position with Fagon allowed him to continue his botanical research and to give well-attended lectures at the Jardin du Roi. In 1699 he received the post of 'brevet de garde du cabinet des drogues du Jardin du Roi', i.e. herbarium keeper. Niceron says that Fagon put Vaillant in change of the Jardin, but I think this is not accurate. In 1702 upon the recommedation of Fagon, Vaillant received his first official post as a botanist and six years later, again through Fagon, he became 'sous demonstrateur des plantes'. (Ramsbottom says that Tournefort selected Vaillant for this position, but everyone else attributes it to Fagon.); In 1717 he substituted for the titular professor at the Jardin, Antoine de Jusieu. Vaillant was such a success that he was allowed to continue giving lectures to the students. He was a member of the Académie after 1716. 8. Patronage: Aristocratic Patronage; Medicine; Court Patronage; The Marquis de Goville took Vaillant as surgeon to his company of troops. Through Fagon (the powerful court physician, who was also involved with the Jardin) Vaillant received his post at the Jardin du Roi. Louis XIV ordered Vaillant to create a Cabinet de Drogues. Fagon obtained permission from the king for Vaillant to direct the building of the first greenhouse in France. Three years later in 1717 another greenhouse, two times larger, was built. Everyone seems agreed that Fagon was Vaillant's special protector, but Louis himself seems to have been involved enough for me to list 'Court' as well. 9. Technological Connections: Medicine; Pharmacology; 10. Scientific Societies: Académie royale des sciences (Paris); 1716-22; Among his correspondents were Sherard, Micheli, and Boerhaave. After much negotiation, Vaillant's personal herbarium remained in France at the Jardin du Roi. Vaillant had made arrangements to sell it to Sherard. Louis XIV offered Vaillant's widow 12000 livres for the herbarium to remain on French soil, and she conceded. SOURCES:
Not Available and Not Consulted: A. Schierbeek,
'Een merkwaardig boekje. De rede van Seb. Vaillant van 1717,' in In
het voetspoor van Thijsse, (Wageningen, 1949), pp. 175-82. While I
found this reference, I have not been able to find any trace of the volume.
Valerio [Valeri], Luca
1. Dates: Born: Naples, 1552; Died: Rome, 17 January 1618; Datecode: Lifespan: 66 2. Father: Unknown; We are told that Giovanni Valeri was from Ferrara. Valerio's mother was from a noble family of Corfu. No clear evidence of the family's financial status. 3. Nationality: Birth: Italian; Career: Italian; Death: Italian 4. Education: Collegio Romano; PD, DD; Valerio's mother was of Greek extraction, from the island of Corfu, and there he was initially reared. He attended the Collegio Romano, where Clavius was his teacher in mathematics. He earned a doctorate in philosophy and theology, apparently at the Collegio. Although a bachelor's degree is not mentioned, I assume it. Toward 1590 he was in Pisa The sources say he was studying there, but I did not see any evidence that testified to more than his presence there. (He and Galileo both later acknowledged becoming acquainted in Pisa.) Note that Valerio would have been thirty-eight at that time. 5. Religion: Catholic. 6. Disciplines: Mathematics; Valerio contributed to quadratures. De centro gravitatis, 1604, applied Archimedean methods to the problems of volumes and centers of gravity of solids of revolution. Quadratura parabolae, 1606, was in the same tradition. 7. Means of Support: Schoolmaster; Academic; Secondary Means of Support: Mis; Valerio spent most of his life in Rome as a teacher, private and public. He taught rhetoric and Greek at the Collegio Greco. Among his pupils at some point was the future Clement VIII (Aldobrandini). In 1591 he began to teach rhetoric at the Sapienza, and from 1600 until his death he taught mathematics there. At some point he added the position of corrector of Greek at the Valican library: he was on the role of the library in 1611. At some point Valerio, who by every account was a very withdrawn and isolated person, became the lover-almost love slave according to the accounts-of the flamboyant Margherita Sarrocchi, poetess and littérateur. 8. Patronage: Ecclesiastic Official; Aristocratic Patronage; Clement VIII was Pope from 1592 to 1605. He was a Cardinal at the time of Valerio's initial appointment at the Sapienza, ands Pope a year later. Valerio dedicated De centro gravitatis, 1604, to Clement, and in the dedication he indicated the favor of the Papal nephew, Cardinal Petro Aldobrandini. He owed the position in the Vatican library to Cardinal Antonio Colonna. I consider his membership in Cesi's Accademia dei Lincei an act of patronage. The first part of his Quadratura parabolae, 1606, took the form of a letter to 'Marco Columnae Lagaroli duci.' 9. Technological Connections: None Known; 10. Scientific Societies: Acad dei Lincei Leopoldina; Having met Galileo in Pisa about 1590, Valerio corresponded with him from 1609 until 1616. Cesi enrolled Valerio in the Accademia dei Lincei in 1602 (I think this is a typo for 1612). Valerio was thoroughly frightened by the Copernican affair in 1616 and submitted his resignation. The Accademia did not accept the resignation but voted to bar him from participation. SOURCES:
Valsalva, Anton [Antonio] Maria
1. Dates: Born: Imola, 17 January 1666; Died: Bologna, 2 February 1723; Datecode: Lifespan: 57 2. Father: Merchant; Aristocrat; Pompeo Pini (who adopted the name Valsalva from the location of the family home) was both a goldsmith and the scion of a noble family. He is said to have been well-to-do, which I translate as affluent. 3. Nationality: Birth: Italian; Career: Italian; Death: Italian 4. Education: University of Bologna; MD, PD. After initial education by the Jesuits, Valsalva went to Bologna to study philosophy and mathematics. There he studied also with Malpighi, whose favorite student he became. In a usual Italian way, both M.D. and Ph.D. in 1687. 5. Religion: Catholic. 6. Scientific Disciplines: Anatomy; Pharmacology; . Subordinate Disciplines: Medicine; Surgery; . Valsalva's most important work, De aure humana, on the ear, treated both its anatomy and physiology and also its pathology and therapy. His contributions to anatomy and physiology, always with pathology and therapy woven in, were far from confined to the ear. He experimented on the origins of hemiplegia and studied internal secreting glands. As a physician he was an expert clincian. He was also an innovative surgeon, especially in the handling of aneurisms. He was also a reformer of the treatment of the insane, opposing the harsh treatment that was common. Valsalva was responsible as well for improvements in medical education in Bologna. 7. Means of Support: Medicine; Academic. Secondary Means of Support: Government Position; In 1687, immediately upon the completion of his degree, Valsalva was appointed Inspector of Public Health in Bologna, on the occasion of an epidemic, and about twelve years later, when there was an epidemic among cattle, the Senate of Bologna set him in charge of containing it. He practised at the Ospedale degli Incurabili in Bologna for twenty-five years. He is said to have been consulted by the most eminent people from many places for his diagnoses. In 1694 the Senate elected him Professor for Dissecting and Demonstrating Anatomy. (In Latin, Incissionem et Ostensionem Anatomicam Professore, which for some reason people render as Engraver of Anatomy, which surely cannot be correct.); In 1705, despite the fact that he was not a native born Bolognese, the Senate appointed Valsalva Lecturer and Demonstrator in Anatomy at the University, where he continued until his death. 8. Patronage: Magistrate; Valsalva does not appear to have been one of the frantic pursuers of patronage. Nevertheless he won the favor of the Senate which created a special position for him in 1694. In 1704 he dedicated his magnum opus, De aure, to the Senate and the following year, despite not being a born Bolognese, he received the chair at the university. The Pope (I forget his name, but I assume it was the one from Bologna late in the century) wished to appoint Valsalva as his personal physician; Valsalva chose to remain at the university. 9. Technological Connections: Medicine; Instruments; In addition to his active practice, Valsalva invented surgical instruments that were of great use. 10. Scientific Societies: Medical College (Any One); Instit. Bologna; Royal Society (London); Valsalva is said to have been enrolled in the register of Bolognese physicians in 1687; I interpret this to mean the College of Medicine. He carried on an extensive correspondence with Italian scientists of his age: Vallisnieri, Lancisi, Pacchioni, Morgagni (who was his student), Manfredi, et al., and also with Vieussens in Montpellier. In Bologna he joined with Guglielmini, Beccari, Manfredi, et al., to organize the Accademia degli Inquieti. Later he was three times president of the Academy of Sciences in the Institute of Bologna. With Malpighi he was named a fellow of the Royal Society. SOURCES:
Not Available and Not Consulted: Morgagni,
De
vita et scriptis . . . Valsalva, (Venice, 1740). R. Barocini,
tr. Vita di A.M. Valsalva scritta da Morgagni, (Imola, 1887). Terzo
centenario della nascita de A.M. Valsalva, (Imola, 1966). This does
not appear to exist in the U.S. Paride Ravanelli, A.M. Valsalva (1666-1723),
(Imola, 1966). Serafino Gaddoni, La famiglia del medico imolese Antonio
Maria Valsalva, (Imola, 1932). A.M. Valsalva, Tratto del orecchio
umano, tr. V. Mangano, intro. G. Bilancioni, (Rome, 1931). G. Bilancioni,
Valsalva.
Le opere e l'uomo, (Rome, 1911).
Vallisnieri [Vallisneri], Antonio
1. Dates: Born: Trassilico (then in Modena), 3 May 1661; Died: Padua, 18 January 1730; Datecode: Lifespan: 69; 2. Father: Government Official; Aristocrat; Lorenzo Vallisnieri was governor of the territory of Camporgiano and then of Trassilico. Through his mother, Vallisnieri was related to C. Magati. The family were Parmese patricians of very long standing; there was another branch of the family in Reggio. The circumstances of Vallisnieri's youth and extended education, without evident compulsion quickly to earn a living, clearly indicate affluence at the very least. It is worth noting that Vallisnieri married a woman from a noble family. Franchini speaks, not of alluence, but of riches. I am accepting this. 3. Nationality: Birth: Italian; Career: Italian; Death: Italian 4. Education: University of Reggio; M.D., P.D. University of Bologna; Vallisnieri began his education at the Jesusit college in Modena and then went to a Catholic College (this was the term; it must refer to the university) in Reggio nell'Emilia. B.A. in 1682. In 1682 he went to Bologna for a time to study with Malpighi, but in obedience to a decree by the Duke of Modena that his subjects should take their laurels at home, he returned to Reggio for both M.D. and Ph.D. (a common Italian combination in that age). After completing the degrees, he continued to study for a couple of years at Bologna and then in 1687 in Venice. He visited Padua, but there is no reference to regular study there. 5. Religion: Catholic 6. Scientific Disciplines: Entomology; Embryology; Natural History; Subordinate Disciplines: Natural Philosophy; Medicine; Geology; While practicing in Regio, Vallisnieri collected, dissected, and observed. Especially he was interested in the generation of insects, leading to Sopra la curiosa origine di molti insetti, a work which followed Redi and Malpighi in its rejection of spontaneous generation. He did research as well on human and animal reproduction. In Padua he collected a considerable museum of natural history. Vallisnieri developed the theory of the chain of being with man, of course, at the pinnacle. He was also an admirer of Democritus, whom he considered the father of true natural philosophy, and along with that an exponent of iatromechanics and of mechanistic ideas of preformation. As a physician he was convinced that medicine must cease to depend upon philosophy, as in the past, but should look rather to biology. He also studied the etiology of infectious diseases. His interest in natural history led on to investigations of movements of the earth, the origin of springs, and the origin of alluvial valleys. He also investigated fossils. It is difficult to judge Vallisnieri. He ranged over a very large number of related fields. He could be listed also under anatomy, physiology, microscopy, zoology, botany, mineralogy, and paleontology. (Some of these are subsumed under medicine and some under natural history.) At the same time it is not wholly clear that he was an important original scientist, but may have been more a reflection of the dominant trends of his age. 7. Means of Support: Medicine; Academic; Personal Means; Secondary Means of Support: Government Position; After completing his medical education, Vallisnieri practiced in Reggio for more than ten years, beginning in 1689. His book (or paper) on insects came to the attention of one of the Riformatori of Padua, who arranged for his appointment to the chair of experimental philosophy in 1700, with an initial salary of 350 florins. Even before he arrived he was moved to the chair of practical medicine. After 1709 he occupied the chair of theoretical medicine. Vallisnieri was the heir of his uncle, the personal physician of the Dukes of Modena, and from the uncle, in 1681, he inherited what is described as a considerable fortune. The following year, 1682, another uncle left his estate to Vallisnieri's father; Vallisnieri received half of it. After 1713 he had a salaried position in the hospital of Padua. He declined an invitation to succeed Lancisi as physician to the Pope, and he also declined a chair at the University of Torino at what is described as an enormous salary. It is clear that he continued to practice medicine during his academic tenure in Padua. 8. Patronage: Government Official; City Magistrate; Aristocratic Patronage; Court Patronage; Vallisnieri dedicated his undergraduate thesis to Luigi d'Este, Governor of Reggio. The Este family recommended him to Malpighi. I also found a reference to a dedication in 1682 (which was the year of his B.A.) to Andrea Lombardini, the Governor of Scandiano; frankly I am puzzled by the reference. I include Federico Marcello, one of the Riformatori of Padua and Procuratore di San Marco, who engineered Vallisnieri's appointment at Padua. This is the essence of patronage, to recognize talent and to promote it. And when the old guard at Padua attacked Vallisnieri's promotion of recent science and medicine, Marcello came to his defense. In 1718 Duke Rinaldo of Modena made Vallisnieri a member of the hereditary nobilty (i.e., a knight). Reggio also ennobled him. Vallisnieri, who was a member of the Leopoldina, dedicated his History of Generation to Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor. Vallisnieri became physician to the Emperor (though he did not leave Padua for Vienna), and from him he received a golden necklace. He dedicated many of his books to the various academies of which he was a member. There are vague general references to his medical attendance of aristocrats and rulers, but no one is named. He dedicated his book about sea fossils to Contessa Clelia Grillo Borromeo, who was his friend and supporter. There are hints that she was also his lover. Like Redi, Vallisnieri, who was apparentlay wealthy as well as very successfull, became something of a patron; that is, according to Tiraboschi, many books were dedicated to him. Tiraboschi does not, however, supply even one name. 9. Technological Connections: Medical Practioner; 10. Scientific Societies: Royal Society (London); Lp, Instit. Bologna; Medical College (Any One); FRS in 1705. A member of the Accademia Cesarea Leopoldina de' Curiosi (to use its name as I found it in an Italian source). A fellow in 1707 of the Istituto delle Scienze of Bologna. He was a member of the medical colleges of Venice, Padua, and Reggio. Vallisnieri was a member also of a considerable array of local Italian academies that were not scientific-such as the Accademia de' Fisiocritici of Siena, the Accademia degli Ricovrati of Padua, the Accademia Fiorentina, the Arcadia of Rome, the Accademia di Rosana (I don't know what city), the Arconti d'Italia, and others that I did not choose to write down. Vallisnieri apparently corresponded with most of the leading scientists (mostly but not entirely life scientists) of his time, including Bellini, Lister, Leibniz, and Marsili. His extended correspondence with Cestoni has been published. SOURCES:
Not Available and/or Not Consulted: Bruno
Brunelli, Figurine e costumi nella correspondenza di un medico del settecento
(Vallisnieri), (Milan, 1938). Paolo Masat Lucchetta, 'Nuovi documenti
per la biografia di Antonio Vallisnieri,' Quaderni stor. University
Padua, 15 (1982), 131-45. I have not succeeded in identifying the journal
in this reference. Ercole Ferrario, Su la vita e gli scritti di AntonioVallisnieri,
(Milan, 1854). A. Fabroni, Vitae italiorum doctrina excellentium,
(Pisa, 1778), 7, 9-90.
Valverde, Juan de
1. Dates: Born: Amusco, Pelencia, Spain, c. 1525; Died: Rome, c. 1588; Datecode: Both Birth & Death Dates Uncertain Lifespan: 63 2. Father: No Information. No information on financial status. 3. Nationality: Birth: Spanish; Career: Italian; Death: Italian 4. Education: Vld, University of Padua; It is believed that he studied at Valladolid University and went to Italy after his B.A. He studied anatomy at Padua under Vesalius and Colomba until about 1543. 5. Religion: Catholic. 6. Scientific Disciplines: Medicine, anatomy, physiology; 1551, De animi et corporis sanitate tuenda libellus. 1556, Historia de la composicion del cuerpo humano. There is much contention about this book which is often accused of plagiary from Vesalius, but seems to have rather made advances on what Vesalius accomplished. It was republished far more than Vesalius. Its plates are based on Vesalius' but apparently contain improvements. This work also first stated the lesser circulation. 7. Means of Support: Medicine; Patronage; Secondary Means of Support: Schoolmaster; He went to Pisa with Colombo in 1545 as his assistant and then accompanied him to Rome in 1548. Here he settled. De animi dedicated to Cardinal Verallo. He was physician to Card Alvarez de Toledo (the Duke of Alba's son); dedicated the Historia to him. He taught medicine at the Santo Spirito Hospital (at least in 1555). (Schoolmaster, in the broad sense in which I use it, seems to only appropriate category.) 8. Patronage: Ecclesiastic officials, Court; See the dedications and position above. He dedicated the manuscript of the Historia to the Pope. He dedicated the Italian version of the Historia to Philip II. 9. Technological Connections: Medical practice. 10. Scientific Societies: SOURCES:
Not Available and Not Consulted: Luis Alverti
Lopez, La anatomia y los anatomistas españoles de siglo XVI,
(Granada, 1902). Cesar Fernanez-Ruiz, 'Estudio biografico sobre el Dr.
Valverde,'
Clinica y laboratorio, 66 (1958), 207-40. Carlos del
Valle-Inslan, 'El lexico anatomico de Montana y Valverde,' Archivos
iberoamericanos de historia de la medicina, 1 (1949), 121-88.
Vanini, Giulio Cesare
1. Dates: Born: Taurisano, Lecce (Southern Italy), c. 1585; Died: Toulouse, France, 9 February 1619; Datecode: Birth Date Uncertain; Lifespan: 34 2. Father: Government Position; Vanini was the son of Giovanni Battista Vanini, a local official, and a Spanish noblewoman. His father was seventy years old when he was born. Namer is unambiguous in saying that the parents were affluent. They had a fine house in Taurisano and other property as well. I will accept this. Nevertheless I do note that Vanini had to enter a religious order to be able to complete his university education. The situation is obscure. He entered the University of Naples in 1599; he took orders in 1603. Sometime near then his father died, and Vanini was not the eldest son. Perhaps this was involved in his entering the order. 3. Nationality: Birth: Italian; Career: Italy; English; French; Death: French. 4. Education: University of Naples, LD; University of Padua; Vanini earned a doctorate in canon and civil law from the University of Naples on 6 June 1606. As with all such cases, I assume a B.A. or its equivalent. He enrolled in the faculty of theology in Padua in 1608, and was there until 1612. There is no record of a degree. 5. Religion: Catholic. Heterodox; Vanini became a Carmelite friar about 1603. When studying in Padua, Vanini showed himself unambiguously in favor of Venice in the republic's dispute with the Papacy. The general of his order commanded him to return to the house in Naples, where he would have been disciplined, probably severely. Instead Vanini sought refuge with the English ambassador to Venice in 1612, and he went secretly to England where he publicly renounced Catholicism. Already in 1613 the English experience had paled, and he appealed to the Pope to be received back in the Church, not as a friar, but as a secular priest. The request was granted by the Pope himself. When the Archbishop of Canterbury learned of Vanini's plans, he had him imprisoned, but Vanini succeeded in escaping to France. Well before this Vanini had been flirting with radical ideas, which found expression in two books published in France. He is known as the prince of libertins. He was accused of atheism. Whatever the truth of this, there seems no doubt that he held radically heterodox opinions. He advanced a naturalistic philosophy according to which the world is eternal and governed by immanent laws. For him all of nature with its immanent laws is what divine providence means. He held that the human soul, which is similar to animal souls is mortal. For these ideas Vanini's book was condemned and three years later, in 1619, known under the pseudonym, Pompeo Uciglio, he was savagely executed in Toulouse. 6. Scientific Disciplines: Natural Philosophy; Vanini published two books in France after the English interlude-Amphitheatrum aeternae providentiae divino-magicum. Christiano-physicum, nec non astrologo-catholicum. Aversus veteres philosophos, 1615, and De admirandis naturae reginae deaeque mortalium arcanis, 1616. It was for these two, especially the second, that he was condemned and forced to flee Paris, and for opinions like those in the second that he was then executed in 1619. On the basis of these works Vanini can be seen as one of the first who began to treat nature as a machine governed by laws. 7. Means of Support: Patronage; Secondary Means of Support: Church Living; Schoolmaster; Medical Practioner; Vanini was originally a Carmelite friar. After completing his degree in Naples in 1606, he remained in the area of Naples for two years, apparently as a friar. He then went on to Padua in 1608, and there he lived in the monastery of his order. In 1612, as he waited on the negotiations that granted him asylum in England, he lived in Bologna, supporting himself as a teacher. The trip to England was financed by the patronage of the English ambassador, and in England he lived entirely (and increasingly unhappily) on the patronage of George Abbot, the Archbishop of Canterbury. After his escape from England he went to Genoa where he was the teacher of Giacomo Doria, of that prominent family. In Paris, 1615-16, he lived on the patronage of Arthur d'Epinay de Saint Luc; Abbé de Redon and Bishop of Marseille, and after he was forced to flee Paris he found refuge for several months at the monastery of Redon in Brittainy. After he fled on from Redon, Vanini supported himself for a time by practising medicine under an assumed name. In Toulouse he lived as the client of the highest aristocrats, especially the Comte de Caraman. Part of his function as client was teaching. 8. Patronge: Government Official; Ecclesiastic Official; Aristocratic Patronage; Vanini was a charismatic character, and wherever he went he collected patrons like flies around honey. This started in Padua where he charmed the English ambassador to Venice, Sir Dudley Carleton, right out of his shoes. Carleton arranged for Vanini's escape to England in 1612 and financed the trip. In England the Archbishop of Canterbury agreed to receive Vanini on Carleton's recommendation. For a time Vanini exerted the same charm on Abbot, who arranged for his public conversion in June 1612, and supported him, though not in a way that pleased Vanini, during his stay in England. When Vanini decided to get out of England, Antonio Foscarini, the Venetian ambassador, provided support. Someone helped to arrange his escape, and it was probably Foscarini. After England he went briefly to Genoa where he became the teacher, and client, of Giacomo Doria. Vanini dedicated his Amphitheatrum, 1615, to Francesco di Castro, Conte di Castro, the protector of his family back in Taurisano. In the dedication Vanini refers to him as his generous maecenas. In Paris he became the client of the abbé de Redon, at whose house in stayed. When the storm broke in 1616, Vanini found refuge for a time in the monastery of Redon. Meanwhile he had dedicated the book that caused the storm, De admirandis arcanis, 1616, to the abbé's uncle, M. (soon to be maréchal) de Bassombpierre. As I said, Vanini collected patrons as he went. Apparently libertin aristocrats lapped up his radical ideas, served up as they were with verve, irreverence, and charm. He no sooner arrived in Toulouse, travelling under an assumed name, than he became the client of Jean de Bertier de Montrabe, the third president (there were first and second presidents at the same time) of the Parlement of Toulouse. More important than Bertier was the Comte de Caraman, of whose nephew Vanini became tutor. Namer's book gives a good account of his patronage. 9. Technological Connections: Medical Practioner; 10. Scientific Societies: SOURCES:
Not Available and/or Not Consulted: Emile
Namer, Documents sur la vie de Jules-César Vanini de Taurisano
(publ. dell'Istituto di Filosofia (1). University degli studi di Bari),
(Bari, n.d.). _____, 'L'oeuvre de Jules-César Vanini (1585-1619):
une anthropologie philosophique,' in
Studi in onore di Antonio Corsano,
(Manduria, 1970). _____, 'Vanini et la préparation de l'esprit scientifique
a l'aube du XVIIe siècle,' Revue d'histoire des sciences
et de leur applications, 25 (1972), 207-20. Don Cameron Allen, Doubt's
Boundless Sea: Skepticism and Faith in the Renaissance, (Baltimore,
1964), pp. 58-74. J.-Roger Charbonnel, La pensée italienne au
XVIe siècle et le courant libertin, (Paris, 1919),
pp. 302-83. William L. Hine, 'Mersenne and Vanini,'
Renaissance Quarterly,
c. 1976. Raffaele Palumbo, Giulio Cesare Vanini e i suoi tempi,
(Naples, 1878). This list does not begin to exhaust the extensive literature
on Vanini. After I had found Namer's book, which is recent and authoritative,
there seemed no point in reading further.
Varenius [Varen], Bernhard
1. Dates: Born: Hitzacker, Hannover, Germany, 1622; Died: Amsterdam, 1650. He most probably died in 1650, and definitely had died by 1655. Datecode: Death Date Uncertain; Lifespan: 28 2. Father: Church Living; His father, Heinrich, was court preacher to the Duke of Brunswick. This sounds like affluence, but the father died when Varenius was only thirteen, and he was left wholly dependent on others for his education. Given this, I list his circumstances as poor. 3. Nationality: German; Dutch; Dutch; Birth: Hitzacker, Hannover, Germany. Career: Amsterdam, Holland. Death: Amsterdam, Holland. 4. Education: University of Koenigsburg; University of Leiden; M.D. 1640-2, he studied at the gymnasium of Hamburg. 1643-5, University of Königsberg. 1648-9, University of Leiden; received an M.D. in 1649. I assume a B.A. or its equivalent. 5. Religion: Lutheran. 6. Scientific Disciplines: Geography; Mathematics; Beyond his well-known work in geography, Varenius left behind a manuscript on the conics. 7. Means of Support: Schoolmaster; 1646-8, he worked as a tutor in Amsterdam, evidently earning a salary of 40 to 60 reichstaler (see 8 ). 1649, he settled in Amsterdam with the intention of practicing medicine, but his friendship with Willem Blaeu and other geographers led him to concentrate on geography. There is no evidence that he ever practiced medicine, and the failure of his name to appear on the list of Amsterdam physicians suggests that he did not. War destroyed his native town, thus preventing him from receiving his inheritance. 8. Patronage: Scientist; City Magistrate; Court Patronage; . Joachim Jungius, the rector of the Hamburg gymnasium was a patron in the sense that Varenius maintained contact with him after leaving Hamburg, often seeking advice and counsel. Jungius and Tassius also appear to have tried to help Varenius find a position. According to Ratzel, Jungius supported Varenius while he was at the gymnasium. I categorize Jungius, who appears in this catalogue, as a scientist; academic might be equally valid. Varenius had a patron while he was in Amsterdam, almost certainly the father of the children he was tutoring. This patron paid Varenius a salary of 40 reichstaler, which Varenius negotiated up to 60. I have not found the name of the patron, but evidently he was a mayor of Amsterdam, who died on a trip to Moscow in 1648. According to Ratzel, Varenius's description of Japan (1649) was dedicated to the mayor and city council of Hamburg in thankful memory of his education at the gymnasium. His book on Japanese religion, Tractatus de religione Japonicorum (1648), was dedicated-certainly in the hope of financial return-to Queen Christina of Sweden, a known patroness of science. Ratzel asserts that Varenius hoped to get Pell's chair at the Amsterdam gymnasium, but was disregarded by the mayor, who evidently did not want a Lutheran in the position. In an effort to gain favor, Varenius dedicated his major work, the Geographia generalis (1650), to the mayor, the trustees of the gymnasium, and the city treasurer of Amsterdam. 9. Technological Connections: None Known; The assertation that he practiced medicine is highly dubious. Ratzel reports that his name was not entered on the list of Amsterdam physicians for that period. 10. Scientific Societies: None known. SOURCES:
Varignon, Pierre
1. Dates: Born: Caen, 1654; Died: Paris, 23 December 1722; Datecode: Lifespan: 68 2. Father: Artisan; Varignon was the son and brother of contracting masons. Varignon himself says that he was born poor and had no patrimony or possession beyond his own labor. 3. Nationality: Birth: France; Career: France; Death: France. 4. Education: University of Caen; M.A. He probably studied at the Jesuit college in Caen. He received a Master's of Arts degree (from the University, I believe) in 1682. I assume a B.A. 5. Religion: Catholic. On 19 December 1676 he received the tonsure. At some unknown later date he became a priest. His ecclesiastical career enabled him to study at the University of Caen where he was undoubtedly one of the oldest students. 6. Scientific Disciplines: Mathematics; Mechanics. Varignon's primary contribution to the progress of science was his pedagogical activity in general statics. In 1687 he published his Projet d'une nouvelle méchanique. Like the work of Newton and Lamy, Varignon's Projet contained the principle of the compostion of forces by infinitely small movements rather than finite ones. This work, which he dedicated to the Académie des Sciences, led to his nomination to the Académie in 1688. In the same year he was appointed professor at the Collège Mazarin. He became one of a handful of men who were teaching advanced mathematics at the time. His teaching duties and his responsibilities as an academicien fully occupied his time and he had no leisure to prepare works for publication. He wrote short works that appeared in journals or as memoirs of the Académie. One memoir showed how to apply infinitesimal analysis to the science of motion and how, in specific cases, to use the relationship between force and acceleration. Although Varignon did not develop any original ideas in the field of mechanics he generalized the methods of the pioneers in the field, prepared the way for the work of Bernoulli, and attempted to provide a broad justification of the principle of virtual velocities. In this way he took part in the development of what appeared later to be the foundation of classical mechanics. The majority of his research appears in posthumous works compiled by his disciples. His Eclaircissemens (1725) contained his notes on how to present l'Hopital's work to young mathematicians. He accepted the new procedures and even defended them against Rolle and others. Élémens de mathematiques (1731) was based on his courses at Collège Mazarin. 7. Means of Support: Academic; Government Position; Secondary Means of Support: Church Living; Patronage; Varignon was named as priest to a parish in Caen in March 1683. The information above about his late career as a student implies an earlier ecclesiastic appointment, but I have not seen one mentioned. About 1686 the Abbé de Saint-Pierre settled an income of 300 livres on Varignon. I gain the impression that he continued to receive this the rest of his life. In 1688 he was appointed to the newly created professorship of mathematiques at Collège Mazarin (which was part of the university). He held this position and resided at the Collège until his death in 1722. He was a member of the Académie from the same year 1688. In 1704 du Hamel resigned his chair at the Collège Royal to Varignon. One source said it was a chair in Greek and Latin Philosophy, but Niceron says in mathematics, which is more plausible for Varignon. 8. Patronage: Ecclesiastic Official; Unknown; Charles Castel, Abbé de Saint-Pierre, offered to share his lodgings and income with Varignon and settled an income of 300 livres on him. In 1686 they left for Paris where Varignon made contacts in scientific circles through St.- Pierre. What is not clear is who stood behind those two appointments in 1688. Varignon did publish his Projet d'une nouvelle méchanique in 1687 and dedicated it to the Academy. Academies, and institutions in general, seem to me to be precisely what could not respond to a dedication, however. The dedication did have the obligatory flattering reference to the King and another, perhaps not obligatory, to his minister (this would have been Louvois, I believe). 9. Technological Connections: Instruments; In 1699 Varignon published a mémoire on water clocks which applied the differential calculus to the flow of a fluid through an orifice. In 1702 another mémoire used the calculus to determine the form of the fusees in spring driven clocks. 10. Scientific Societies: Académie royale des sciences (Paris); 1688-1722; Berlin Academy; 1713; Royal Society (London); 1718. Varignon was nominated as geometer in the Académie in 1688. Among his correspondents were du Hamel, du Verney, de la Hire, Newton, Leibniz, and Johann I Bernoulli. SOURCES:
Not Available and Not Consulted: Abbé
Gouget, Mémoire historique et littéraire sur le Collège
Royale de France, (Paris, 1758). Costabel lists this work, but I have
not found any reference to it in any published catalogue of a library.
Varolio, Costanzo
1. Dates: Born: Bologna, 1543; Died: Rome, 1575; Datecode: Lifespan: 32 2. Father: Unknown; Sebastiano Varolio is described only as a citizen (even an honest citizen) of Bologna. No information on financial status. 3. Nationality: Birth: Italian; Career: Italian; Death: Italian 4. Education: University of Bologna; MD, Ph.D. Varolio studied philosophy and then medicine (especially anatomy under Aranzio) at the University of Bologna. M.D. and Ph.D., in the standard Italian style, in 1567. 5. Religion: Catholic. 6. Disciplines: Anatomy; His principal work was De nervis opticis, 1573, which was primarily an anatomy of the brain which employed a new technique in the dissection of the brain that altered the whole approach. Anatomiae libri IIII, 1591-a posthumous work. 7. Means of Support: Academic; Medicine; Patronage; Varolio received his M.D. in 1567. In 1569 the Senate of Bologna created an extraordinary chair in surgery, with responsibility to teach anatomy as well, for him. He went to Rome in 1572. Possibly he taught at the Sapienza, though he is not listed on the role there. Possibly he was physician to Gregory XIII, though again there appears to be no record. (Mandosio states that he was physician to Gregory; Marini denies it.) There seems to be no doubt that he enjoyed the patronage of the Pope, who was from Bologna. In Rome especially he had considerable success both as a physician and as a surgeon. His memorial plaque refers to his great skill in removing stones. 8. Patronage: Ecclesiastic Official; Magistrate. The Senate of Bologna and the Pope-see above. 9. Technological Connections: Medical Practioner; 10. Scientific Societies: SOURCES:
Not Available and Not Consulted: G. Martinotti,
Costanza
Varolio e il suo metodo di sezionare l'encefalo, (Imola, 1926). I cannot,
of course, tell from the title if this work is any good, but it appears
to be the only title devoted to Varolio. No American library appears to
hold it. _____, L'insegnamento dell'anatomia in Bologna prima del secolo
XIX, (Bologna, 1911). Gaetano Marini, Degli arciatri pontifici,
1 (Rome, 1784), xxxviii. Michele Medici, Compendio storico della
scuola anatomica di Bologna, (Bologna, 1857), 84-90. Ludwig Choulant,
History
and Bibliography of Anatomic Illustration, tr. Mortimer Frank,
(Chicago, 1920), 214-15.
Vauban, Sebastien
1. Dates: Born: St. Leger de Fougeret, 15 May 1633; Died: Paris, 30 March 1707; Datecode: Lifespan: 74 2. Father: Merchant; Vauban came from modest origins, notaries and small merchants of Bazoches. One member entered the lesser nobility through the purchase of a small fief. His father boasted of the title Squire, Lord of Champignolle and of Vauban. Vauban married Jeanne d'Osnay, the daughter of Baron d'Epiry. No information on financial status, however suggestive all of that may sound. 3. Nationality: Birth: France; Career: France; Death: France. 4. Education: None Known; As a young child, he was taught by the village curate of St. Leger. At ten he was sent to the Carmelite college of Semur-in-Auxois where he acquired the rudiments of mathematics, a small amount of history, and showed some talent in draftsmnship. In 1651 his father arranged for him to be introduced to the Prince de Condé by an uncle who was serving in the Prince's army. Vauban entered into the military service as a cadet. He served his apprenticeship by working on fortifications. In 1653 he was captured (by the king's forces; he had been with the frondeurs) and 'converted' by Mazarin. 5. Religion: Catholic. 6. Scientific Disciplines: Engineer; Subordinate Disciplines: Gog; In 1670 he wrote a treatise on siegecraft. In his mature years he wrote on subjects ranging from colonization and religious toleration to pig farming and privateering. In his dispatches to Louvois he often commented on the resources of various districts, including figures on population and productivity. In 1686 he began collecting statistics in earnest. In 1696 he wrote a geographical treatise of the Vezelay region which was a pioneering study in economics, geography, and sociology. From 1680 to 1707 he wrote three works on taxation including a proposal on the amelioration of the tax burden. In his military capacity, Vauban strove to create a corps of army engineers as a regularly constituted arm of the service with its own specially trained officers. 7. Means of Support: Military; Government Official; Patronage; After his capture in 1653, Vauban became a member of the royal army. In 1654 he was awarded a lieutenant's commission which included a small grant of money. Throughout his military career Vauban would receive cash grants from the King. Vauban began working under Chevalier de Clerville, Commissioner General of Fortifications. In 1655 he became ingenieur ordinaire du roi. In 1661 Louis XIV rewarded him with another cash grant and a commission in the prestigious regiment de Picardie. During the War of Devolution, Vauban distinguished himself and was promoted above Clerville to the rank of Commissioner General. He was virtually the director of all engineering work in Louvois's department. 8. Patronage: Aristocratic Patronage; Court Patronage; Patronage of Government Official; In addition to his previously mentioned military honors, Vauban was named governor of Lille after his success as Commissioner General. In 1703 he was named to the high honor of Marshall of France. Two years later he was honored again with the select membership to the Ordre du Saint Esprit. In 1666, Vauban was duped into signing false accounts (Breisach Affair), and it was only the backing of Colbert and Louvois that kept him from severe disciplinary actions and possibly the ruin of his career. Five years later Louvois obtained the false documents so that they might be burned. He also obtained a letter from the King clearing Vauban. 9. Technological Connections: Military Engineer; Agriculture; Vauban introduced parallel trenches for the safety of his troops. He was the first to use ricochet fire of mortars. He urged the army to abandon their bronze cannon and emulate the navy by the use of iron. He was a master of fortifications, a skill which served the French army very well and won him many honors. I include here that treatise on pig farming. 10. Scientific Societies: Académie royale des sciences (Paris); 1699-1707,; Académicien honoraire. His friends were Jean Brun, an apothecary, Deschamps, a physician, and Pierre Trichet. He corresponded with Mersenne and Descartes. SOURCES:
Verantius, Faustus [Vrancic,
Faust]
1. Dates: Born: Sibenik (Coatia), 1551; Died: Venice, 20 January 1617; Datecode: Lifespan: 66 2. Father: Aristocrat. He came from a noble Croatian family. His father was a diplomat and poet. His uncle, Archbishop of Esztergom, Primate of Hungary, Cardinal, and an influential stateman, took charge of his education. This certainly sounds affluent at the very least. 3. Nationality: Birth: Yu (or more exactly Croatian); Career: Yu, Italian; Death: Italian 4. Education: University of Vienna; University of Padua; University of Sapienza (Rome); He studied philosophy and law in Padua from 1568 to 1570. Studies apparently at the university level in Vienna and Rome are also mentioned. There was no mention of a degree, which would have been irrelevant for one of his status. Later in his leisure time he studied mechnics and mathematics. 5. Religion: Catholic 6. Scientific Disciplines: Engineer; Hydraulics; Subordinate Disciplines: Mathematics; His Machinae novae (1616) is a book of mechanical and technological inventions. Some of his inventions are applicable to the solutions of hydrological problems, and others concern the construction of clepsydras, sundials, mills, presses, and bridges and boats for widely different uses. Althogh some of his 'machines' were not wholly original or independent inventions, many of them were explained for the first time in print in Machinae novae. In 1595 he published a five language dictionary (Latin-Italian-German-Croatian-Hungarian). He was also the author of Logica nova and Ethica christiana (1616). 7. Means of Support: Government Official; Church Living; Commander of the citadel at Veszprim, 1579-81. Secretary of the royal chancellory of Hungary, 1581-94. Bishop of Csanad, 1594. Imperial counselor for Hungarian and Transylvanian affairs, 1598-1605. Member of the Congregation of St. Paul in Rome, 1605-15. 8. Patronage: Court Patronage; Emperor Rudolf II offered him the post of secretary of the royal chancellory of Hungary in 1681, and granted him the title of Bishop of Csanad, an honorary office since the bishopric was then occupied by the Turks, in 1594. At his request, Louis XIII in 1614 granted him a privilege for printing a 'book of machines'. In 1615 Cosimo II de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscary, granted him a analogous privilege for the book 'that the latter wishes to publish.' 9. Technological Connections: Hydraulics; Civil Engineer; Mechanical Devices; Some of his inventions are applicable to the solution of hydrological problems, for example, the project to keep for the Tiber from overflowing its banks at Rome and that of providing Venice with fresh water. Others concern the construction of clepsydras, sundials, mills, presses, and bridges and boats destined for widely different uses. His designs for a wind turbine, a funicular railway, and a bridge suspended by iron chains represent an advance over contemporary techniques. He did build bridges and mills in Vienna. 10. Scientific Societies: SOURCES:
Not Available and Not Consulted: J.T. Marnavich,
Oratio
habita in funere ill. ac rev. viri Fausti Verantij, Venice, 1617. H.T.
Horwitz,'Ueber Fausto Veranzio und sein Werk Machinae novae'
Archeion,
8
(1927), 169-75.
Vernier, Pierre
1. Dates: Born: Ornans, Franche-Comté, 19 August 1584; Died: Ornans, 14 September 1638; Datecode: Lifespan: 54. 2. Father: Government Position; Vernier's father was a castellan of the chateau of Ornans. This was a governmental establishment. He was a lawyer by training and probably an engineer. No information on financial status. 3. Nationality: Birth: France; (I list this as France, though it was in the Franche-Comté). Career: France; Death: France. 4. Education: None Known. At an early age he studied the writings of contemporary scientists and learned how measuring instruments worked. He was particularly attentive to the works of Clavius and Brahe. His father's inclination toward mathematics gave Vernier a solid instruction and initiated him to their applications. 5. Religion: Catholic (by assumption). 6. Scientific Disciplines: Engineer; Instruments. With his father he made a map of the Franche-Comté area. His reading of the works of Nunez, Clavius, and Brahe and his experience in surveying with his father prompted him to seek a new way of reading off the angles on surveying instruments. The Vernier scale improved the work of Nunez, Clavius, and Curtius by replacing a series of static scales with a mobile concentric segment. It was not until the start of the eighteenth century that technology caught up with Vernier's scale and the vernier began to be used. Vernier's name was not associated with his invention until the middle of the century. 7. Means of Support: Engineer; Government Official. He worked as a military engineer for the Hapsburgs. By 1622 he was already a tax official for Dole and Besancon. In 1622 he had acquired a reputation as an excellent engineer and received the position as conseiller et général des monnaies for the Count of Burgundy. He held this position until his death in 1638. In the same year he was named capitain of the chateau d'Ornans, a position which he also held until his death. In addition to all these positions he became a conseiller du roi. The following year he received the honorary title of citizen from the city of Besancon in recognition of his service in placing the city in a state of defense from the bands of Ernest von Mansfield. After his voyage to Brussels to present his invention to Isabelle-Claire-Eugenie, the infanta of Spain, he returned to the Franche-Comté (1631) and spent the remainder of his life working on the fortifications of various cities. 8. Patronage: Court Patronage; Aristocrat; From 1622 until his death he held several royal offices. He dedicated his treatise on the quadrant to the Archduchess, to whom he presented his invention (a copper one made for her) in 1631. It was upon the recommendations of Philippe Chifflet, who enjoyed several benefices from the Archduchess, and Ferdinand LeBlanc, colonel of the regiment of Amont, that Vernier undertook his voyage to Brussels to present his invention to the Hapsburg court. 9. Technological Connections: Cartography; Military Engineer; Scientific Instruments; Architecture; Vernier replaced the series of static scales with a mobile concentric segment. This scale was not attributed to him until the middle of the eighteenth century. He designed a building in Dole. See also above. 10. Scientific Societies: SOURCES:
Vesalius, Andreas
1. Dates: Born: Brussels, 31 December 1514; Died: Zakinthos, 15 October 1564; Datecode: Lifespan: 50 2. Father: Government Position; His father was an apothecary to Emperor Maximillian and then his son Charles V. He became a constant attendent to Charles, a valet de chambre. The father was the illegitimate son of Everart van Wesele, physician to the Emperor. His great-grandfather served Frederick III and was granted the heraldic device of three weasels. Vesalius came from a long line of physicians who were in royal service. No information on financial status. 3. Nationality: Birth: Belgian Area; Career: Italy; Sp, Germany; Belgium Area; Death: Eu 4. Education: Lou; Par; University of Padua; M.D. Vesalius took his elementary studies in Brussels most likely at the school of the Brothers of the Common Life. He matriculated at the University of Louvain in 1530 to pursue an arts curriculum. It is unknown when he decided to study medicine, possibly after 1531 when the Emperor legitimized his father in consideration of his continual service as valet de chambre. Vesalius commenced his medical schooling at the University of Paris two years later. He left Paris in 1536 because of the war between France and the Holy Roman Empire. He returned to Louvain and with the support of the Burgomuster he was able to reintroduce anatomical dissection at the school. He received his bachelor's in medicine the following year. In the same year, he enrolled in the medical school of the University of Padua. With his previous work at Louvain and Paris it was only months before Vesalius passed his exams and received his doctor in medicine. I assume a B.A. or its equivalent. 5. Religion: Catholic. 6. Scientific Disciplines: Anatomy; Medicine; Pharmacology; Subordinate Disciplines: Pharmacology; At Paris Vesalius studied medicine in the Galenic tradition under Sylvius, Jean Ferne, and at Louvain under Guinter of Andernach. He acquired great skill in dissection but remained under the influence of the Galenic concepts of anatomy. Immediately after his graduation from Padua he began lecturing on surgery and anatomy. Unlike many other lecturers of the time, Vesalius insisted on carrying out his own dissections for his classes. He produced for the aid of his students four large anatomical charts. After one of them was plagiarized and published, he printed the remaining three charts with three views of the skeleton by Jan Stephen, a student from Titian's studio. This work appeared in 1538 as Tabulae anatomicae sex. The following year he produced an anatomical manual for his students, Institutiones anatomicae. Vesalius's anatomical researches were beginning to call into question some of Galen's findings. By 1540's he was certain that Galen's research did not reflect human anatomy; rather it was the anatomy of an ape. In 1543 Vesalius published two works on anatomy directed to two separate audiences. In the longer of the two, the Fabrica, Vesalius hoped to persuade the established medical world to appreciate anatomy as the foundation of all other medical research. The errors of Galen and of others could be corrected by active dissection and observation of the human structure. In the same year Vesalius published a work for students, the Epitome, which also emphasized the importance of dissection and anatomical knowledge in general to the practice of medicine. Both works were amply illustrated possibly by students from Titian's studio. 7. Means of Support: Patronage; Medicine; Secondary Means of Support: Academic; After receiving his doctor in medicine (1537) at Padua, Vesalius accepted a position there as an explicator chirurgiae. He was responsible for lecturing on surgery and anatomy. In 1543 he left academic research to become physician to the imperial household. Vesalius held this position until Charles V abdicated in favor of his son Philip II, whom Vesalius served until his own death. While in royal service Vesalius acted as a military surgeon during the Hapsburg campaigns. He also served various members of the court and was so esteemed as a physician that he was called to consult on serious cases. 8. Patronage: Medicine; Court Patronage; Vesalius dedicated two of his earlier works to Nicolas Florenas, a physician and family friend. Vesalius referred to Florenas as the patron of his earlier studies. Vesalius served the courts of both Charles V and his son Philip II. He dedicated his Fabrica to Charles V. 9. Technological Connections: Medicine; Pharmacology; In 1546 Vesalius wrote an Epistola on the discovery and therapeutic use of chinaroot in the treatment of syphilis. The following year he introduced a new procedure, the surgically induced drainage of empyema. 10. Scientific Societies: SOURCES:
Vesling, [Veslingius], Johann
1. Dates: Born: Minden, Westphalia, 1598; Died: Padua, 30 August 1649; Datecode: Lifespan: 51 2. Father: Unknown; All we know is that his Catholic family apparently fled to Vienna to escape religious persecution. No information of financial status. 3. Nationality: Birth: German; Career: Italian; Death: Italian. 4. Education: University of Leiden; University of Bologna; M.D. The old accounts have him studying medicine in Vienna or Padua, but they have no evidence to support this. He enrolled in Leiden on 15 November 1619. Possibly on the advice of his teacher Vorstius, he went to Bologna. It appears, however, that he did not receive a degree from either university. La Cava speaks of his earning the laurels in Venice (not Padua) in 1628. While there are bizarre aspects to this, his whole subsequent career implies an M.D., so I am accepting it. 5. Religion: Catholic. 6. Scientific Disciplines: Anatomy; Botany; Subordinate Disciplines: Embryology; Pharmacology; Vesling published Syntagma anatomicum, 1641, an extremely popular text that went through many editions and many translations. It includes a number of original observations, including some on the lacteals and lymphatics. In Egypt Vesling studied the flora and later published De plantis aegyptiis, 1638. In 1638 he ceased to lecture on surgery at Padua and turned wholly to botany. In the final years of his life he renovated the botanical garden in Padua. As the botanical garden in Padua implies, his study of plants, from the beginning in Egypt, include their pharmacological uses. In Egypt Vesling also studied the development of the chicken in artificially hatched eggs. 7. Means of Support: Medicine; Academic; Secondary Means of Support: Schoolmaster; Patronage; One of the few documented facts from Vesling's early life is an anatomical demonstration at Venice in the winter of 1627-8, which gained him the right to practice medicine in the city. Older accounts of Vesling's life all report that he gave highly successful public lectures on anatomy in Venice between his stay in Egypt and his appointment in Padua. Established dates, which show that he was still in Egypt, make this impossible. Castiglioni asserts that he was an instructor in anatomy in the medical college of Venice in 1727, i.e., before he went to Egypt. This would tie all of the information and accounts together. He served as the physician to Alvise Cornaro when Cornaro was the Venetian representative in Cairo. They left for Cairo in August 1628. Vesling's continued presence there in May 1632 is established, and it appears that he returned to Venice early in 1633, after he had been appointed Professor of Anatomy and Surgery at Padua on 30 December 1630. There are references to his practicing medicine in Padua. 8. Patronge: Aristocratic Patronage; Not only did Vesling serve with Cornaro, but it appears highly probable to me that Cornaro stood behind the appointment in Padua. There was no university appointment without patronage. 9. Technological Connections: Medicine; Pharmacology; His connection with the botanical garden entailed pharmacology, and already in Egypt his initial study was of medicinal plants. 10. Scientific Societies: After Vesling's death Thomas Bartholin published papers and letters posthumously, but I have not seen their relationship elucidated. SOURCES:
Viète [Vieta], Francois
1. Dates: Born: Fontenay-le-Comte, Poitou (now Vendée), 1540 Died: Paris, 23 February 1603; Datecode: Lifespan: 63 2. Father: Lawyer; Government Official. Viète's father, Etienne Viète, was an attorney in Fontenay and a notary in Le Busseau. He was also a procureur du roi in Fontenay. Viète's grandfather was a merchant in the village of Foussay in Lower Poitou. Viète's mother was the first cousin to Barnabé Brisson, President of the Parlement de Paris under the League. All the evidence places the Viète family among the most distinguished in Fontenary. At least by the age of twenty, Viète mwas Sieur de la Bigotière. His two brothers both had distinguished positions. I do not see how to avoid the conclusion that the family was wealthy. 3. Nationality: Birth: France; Career: France; Death: France. 4. Education: University of Poitiers; L.D. He made his early studies with a tutor in Fontenay. In 1555 he began his studies in law at the University of Poitiers. In 1560 he received his bachelor's degree and his license for practicing law. I treat this as the equivalent of a B.A., and I list the law degree. 5. Religion: Catholic. Although Viète had many Huguenot clients, he never renounced his faith; neither did he brandish it, however, as a sword. His association with Huguenots as clients caused him some difficulty between 1584 and 1589 when his enemies had him banished from court. There are some indications that Viète was indifferent to religion to the extent of rejecting it. However, the stories are gossip more than hard fact, and I do not list him as heterodox. 6. Scientific Disciplines: Mathematics. Subordinate Disciplines: Astronomy. Viète's first scientific work was his set of lectures to Catherine Parthenay of which only Principes des cosmographie survives. This work introduced his student to the sphere, elements of geography, and elements of astronomy. His mathematical works are closely related to his cosmology and works in astronomy. In 1571 he published Canon mathematicus which was to serve as the trigonometric introduction to his Harmonicon coeleste which was never published. Twenty years later he published In artem analyticum isagoge which was the earliest work on symbolic algebra. In 1592 he began his dispute with Scaliger over his purported solutions to the classical problems with ruler and compass. In 1595 he began corresponding with Adrianus Romanus over a problem proposed by him in 1593. Adrianus was so impressed with Viète's solution to the 45th degree equation that he travelled to Fontenay to meet him. For all his achievement, however, mathematics was only a pastime for Viète, who was first and foremost a lawyer and public administrator. Viète was involved in the calendar reform. He rejected Clavius's ideas and in 1602 published a vehement attack against the calendar reform and Clavius. The dispute ended only with Viète's death at the beginning of 1603. 7. Means of Support: Government Official; Patronage; Secondary Means of Support: Lawyer; Personal Means; After returning to Fontenay from his law studies he is reported in some sources to have taken on the cases of Eleanor of Aquitaine (1561) and Marie Stuart (1564), taking care of their interests in Poitou and Fontenay. Among his other clients were Coligny, Condé, the Queen of Navarre, and Henri de Bourbon. Of all this, however, (Henri de Bourbon excepted) Grisard, who appears very reliable, says nothing. From his career it appears reasonable to accept law practice, as distinct from legal work as a client, as an early occupation. In 1564 he accepted the position as secretaire particulier to Antoinette d'Aubeterre (of the important Soubise family). He was also given the tutoring responsibilities of her daughter, Catherine de Parthenay. According to some sources he was an avocat of the Parlement of Paris from 1570 to 1573. Grisard finds no evidence for this, but does think Viète was in Paris during this period. In 1573 Charles IX appointed him counselor to the Parlement of Brittany at Rennes. During his six years with the Parlement (1574-80) he was frequently absent on business of the King who employed him in various ways. He became maitre des requetes and royal privy counselor in 1580. He was apparently deeply involved in negotiating some justice for Francoise de Rohan in what was a scandalouus case. From 1584 to 1589 his enemies at court, primarily the Guise who stood to loose by the settlement of that case, succeeded in having him banished from the royal court. He appears to have lived as a client of Francoise during part of this time. In 1589 Henri III set up court in Tours and recalled Viète. After the death of Henri III, Viète served Henri IV in the war with Spain by decoding the letters intercepted. He served as maitre des requetes and a member of Henri's privy council. He was also a member of the Parlement of Paris. 8. Patronage: Aristocratic Patronage; Court Patronage; Viète served as secretaire particulier to Antoinette d'Aubeterre. He dedicated his Art analytique to Catherine de Parthenay. He dedicated his Essays to the Duc de Bouillon. Grisard concludes that Viète owed his rather rapid rise in favor to Francoise de Rohan. Except for the period between 1584 and 1589 he enjoyed the favor of the court from Charles IX, Henri III, and Henri IV. 9. Technological Connections: Mathematics; I list his contribution to trigonometrical calculations here. 10. Scientific Societies: SOURCES:
Not Available and Not Consulted: P. Dedron
and J. Itard, Mathematiques et mathematiciens, (Paris, 1959), pp.
159-85.
Vieussens, Raymond
1. Dates: Born: Vigan, Lot, c. 1635; Died: Montpellier, 16 August 1715; Datecode: Birth Date Uncertain; Lifespan: 80 2. Father: Unknown. We are told only that Vieussens' father was a bourgeois of Vigan. There is a death notice of a Francois Vieussens, maréchal, who might well have been Raymond's father. Another family member, Jean Vieussens, was a surgeon. No information on financial status. 3. Nationality: Birth: French; Career: French; Death: French 4. Education: University of Montpellier; M.D. Vieussens completed his secondary studies at Rodez. He studied medicine at the University of Montpellier, graduating in 1670 with his doctorate. This is a surprisingly late age, but there is no information indicating why he did not receive his degree earlier. He was well-known already at the time of his graduation. He may have completed earlier studies at Toulouse or Cahors. 5. Religion: Catholic. 6. Scientific Disciplines: Medicine; Anatomy; Pharmacology; Subordinate Disciplines: Iatrochemstry. He is most well-known for his book on the nervous system, Neurographia universalis (1684), and his work on fermetation. Though he was prominent in the science of medicine at Montpellier, he spent his entire career outside the city's university and sometimes in opposition to its professors. He divided his time between his medical pratice at St. Eloi and his anatomical research. On the nervous system, he continued the work of Thomas Willis, following the suggestion of Steno to study the white substance of the brain by tracing the path of its fibers. His description of the cerebellum and his discovery of the dentate nuclei surpassed all previous publications on the subject. He also studied the structure of the ear and angiology. He was involved in a priority dispute with Chirac, a member of the Montpellier Faculty of Medicine, over the first to have extracted an acidic salt from blood (both results were erroneous). During the last decade of his life he conducted research in cardiology. Among his cardiological treatises his Traité nouveau de la structure et des causes du mouvement naturel du couer (1715) reported his observations that confirmed the hypothesis that there was a continuous vascular pathway between the arterial and venous vessels. He was the first to note that aortic diseases manifest themselves by a characteristics pulse, rediscovered a century later by P.J. Corrigan, whose name it now bears. The drawback to Vieussens's work was his tendency to conjoin his correct morphological observations with rather fantastic physiological explanations. He drew inspiration from Descarte's mechanistic philosophy and Sylvius's iatrochemical ideas. 7. Means of Support: Government Official; Patronage; Medicine; Almost immediately after graduation he was named physician at Hotel Dieu at St. Eloi, the leading hospital in Montpellier. In 1679 he became chief surgeon and held this post the rest of his life. He never sought a private practice. On several occasions he left Montpellier to treat important people in Paris. (Since his living manifestly derived from medicine, I list this also.) 8. Patronage: Aristocratic Patronage; Ecclesiastic Official; Court Patronage; Medical Practioner. The Marquis de Castries protected Vieussens from attacks by the Montpellier Faculty of Medicine allowing him to continue his clinical and experimental work in peace. De Castries brother-in-law, Pierre de Bonsi, Archbishop of Toulouse and later Cardinal, became Vieussens patron. Vieussens was his personal physician. He dedicated his Neurographia universalis to de Bonsi. Through this relationship Vieussens became physician to several leading citizens and members of the aristocracy at court. In 1688 he received the title of royal physician to the King and 1000 livres annual pension. In gratitude for this position possibly procured for him by Fagon (the powerful court physician), Vieussens dedicated his Novum vasorum corporis humani systema (1705) to Fagon. He was the personal physician to the Duchess of Montpensier, 1690-3. In 1707 the King named him conseiller of state and gave him an annual pension of 3000 livres. Vieussens founded a virtual dynasty of physicians with two sons and two sons-in-law becoming physicians. According to Kellett, Fagon acquired for Vieussens and his eldest son the positions as quarterly physicians to the king. For Vieussens this was a means of establishing his son. 9. Technological Connections: Medical Practioner; 10. Scientific Societies: Académie royale des sciences (Paris); 1699-1715; He was elected to the Académie as a correspondent of P.S. Regis. In 1708 he was promoted to associate anatomist. SOURCES:
Vigani, John Francis
1. Dates: Born: Verona, ca. 1650. The date rests on very tenuous assumptions. Died: Newark-on-Trent, England, February 1713. He was buried on 26 February 1713. Datecode: Birth Date Unknown; Lifespan: - 2. Father: Unknown; No information about his family. No information on financial status. 3. Nationality: Birth: Italian; Career: English. There may very well have been a career on the continent before Vigani came to England. Death: English. 4. Education: None Known; No recorded degree. 5. Religion: Catholic. Anglican; Reared a Catholic, and apparently conformed to Anglicanism later. 6. Scientific Disciplines: Chemistry; Pharmacology; He was a practical working chemist and pharmacist with little or no interest in theory. His aim was to teach the preparation of useful chemical compounds and pharmacological prescriptions. His one published work, Medulla chemiae, Danzig, 1682 (republished in London, 1683), was a set of instructions to produced certain chemicals and medicines. He devised a method to purify sulfate of iron from copper, and one for making ammonium sulfate. He was free of alchemical inclinations. 7. Means of Support: Schoolmaster; Pharmacology; There is no information on Vigani before 1682, and the reference to him in 1682 is indirect. He settled in Newark-on Trent, England, apparently in 1682, supporting himself as a pharmacist. He taught at Cambridge as a private tutor after 1683; he was granted the title of professor of chemistry by the senate of the university in 1702, but without salary. He ceased to teach in 1708. 8. Patronage: City Magistrate; Aristocratic Patronage; Vigani dedicated the first edition of Medulla to Johannes de Waal, Burgomaster of Haarlem. The dedication is not without problems. De Waal died in 1663. The suggestion is that Vigani had had some favor from him; if this is so, the assumed date of Vigani's birth, which rests on nothing solid at all, would need to be pushed back at least about ten years. Dr. Covell, Master of Christ's College, invited him to write a book on chemistry. The Senate of the Cambridge University granted him the title of professor of chemistry. I'll leave the information in, but I am not ready to count either as patronage. 9. Technological Connections: Pharmacology; Chemistry; Int See above. In the manuscript notes on Vigani's Course of Chymistry there is a discussion of a furnace he is said to have invented. After hesitation, I am listing this. 10. Scientific Societies: Intimate friendship with Newton. He was one of the few visitors to Newton's rooms in Trinity. Friendship with John Covell. SOURCES:
Viviani, Vincenzio
1. Dates: Born: Florence, 5 April 1622; Died: Florence, 22 September 1703; Datecode: Lifespan: 81 2. Father: Aristocrat; Jacopo di Michelagnolo Viviani was a member of a noble family. The mother was also. The family was sufficiently endowed financially to be able to care for the education of Vincenzo and his numerous brothers. This certainly implied affluence. Nothing I have seen suggests wealth, though it is stated that the mother's family was rich. 3. Nationality: Birth: Italian; Career: Italian; Death: Italian 4. Education: None Known; Viviani studied with the Jesuits in Florence, and he studied mathematics with Clemente Settimi of the Scuole Pie. Settimi, who was impressed by Viviani's intelligence and ability, introduced him to Galileo, and Settimi's description of his pupil led to his introduction to the Grand Duke in 1638. The Grand Duke provided 50 scudi per year to the young man to provide him with mathematical books, and he later arranged for Viviani to be Galileo's companion and pupil, an arrangement that began late in 1639 and lasted until Galileo's death. The years with Galileo took the place of a university education. 5. Religion: Catholic. 6. Scientific Disciplines: Mathematics; Hydraulics; Mechanics. Subordinate Disciplines: Optics; Physics; Astronomy. Viviani was first of all a student of ancient geometry who, though a leading mathematician, never came to terms with the new analyis. He attempted to restore the fifth book of Euclid's Elements, and to reconstruct the contents of the lost fifth book of Apollonius' Conics, and Aristaeus' De locis solidis. He prepared an Italian version of Archimedes' work on the rectification and squaring of the circle, and he published an Italian translation of the whole of Euclid's Elements. As an engineer with the Uffiziali dei Fiumi in Florence, he published Discorso intorno al difendersi da' riempimenti e dalle corrosione de' fiumi (1687), completed a work on the nature of fluids (which he did not publish), and left numerous manuscripts on theoretical and practical hydraulics. Two of his compositions were included in the Raccolta del moto dell'acque of the 18th century. Working as the disciple of Galileo, Viviani nearly completed a work on the resistance of solids, which Grandi did complete and publish after Viviani's death. Viviani left quite a few manuscripts on mechanics. In the Accademia del Cimento he worked on the compression of air and on optics, and he was responsible for the Accademia's astronomical observations. He also observed some with Cassini. 7. Means of Support: Government Official; Patronage; Academic; Secondary Means of Support: Sch As mentioned above, the Grand Duke supplied a sort of pension to Viviani when he was still a boy, and he began to employ him after Galileo's death, first as an inspector of fortifications, and then as an engineer with the Uffiziali dei Fiumi. In 1653, after he had been filling the position for a number of years, he was officially appointed as engineer, and he continued in that position virtually until his death. After the death of Torricelli (in 1647) Viviani succeeded him as lecturer at the Accademia del Disegno in Florence, a position he held from 1647 until his death in 1703. (I categorize this as Academic; .) He also gave lessons at his home. In 1649 he was appointed lecturer in mathematics to the pages at the court and was thus in charge of the scientific education of the princes. Beginning in 1664 Viviani, as one of twelve designated leading intellectuals of Europe, received a pension from Louis XIV of 100 doubloons (which seems to mean double scudi, but Milanese rather than Florentine scudi), and to Louis he dedicated his final work in 1702. In 1666 Louis offered Viviani one of the places in the newly organized Académie Royale, and that same year John II Casimir of Poland offered to appoint Viviani as his astronomer. The Grand Duke shifted into gear and appointed Viviani as his mathematician with a stipend of 600 scudi, promising to let him retire as engineer (though Viviani was in fact not allowed to retire as engineer until 1677 and was still at the job in some sense twenty years after that). Manifestly Viviani declined the offers from France and Poland. 8. Patronage: Court Patronage; Patronage of Government Official; See various aspects of his relations with the Grand Duke above. The Grand Duke Ferdinando liked to call Viviani in to discuss scientific matters, and to the Grand Duke Viviani dedicated works. He continued in favor with Cosimo III and also dedicated books to him, such as the problem called Viviani's enigma, in 1692. Viviani also had a close and continuing relation with Prince Leopoldo. (Leopoldo later became a Cardinal, but I think I should list him solely as part of the court.) Viviani was one of the key members in Leopoldo's Accademia del Cimento. Leopoldo encourage Viviani to publish his work on Apollonius, virtually ordering him to do so, and Viviani dedicated the work to him and to the Grand Duke, who held up the publication by Borelli of his translation of an Arabic manuscript of Apollonius until Viviani's reconstruction of the fifth book was safely out. Viviani dedicated other works to Leopoldo as well. The Medici financed the publication of the work on Apollonius. It appears to me that they financed the publication of all of his works. Viviani did not seem to know how to proceed without them. A letter to a Cardinal, written in 1696, tries to get him to publish three geometrical works that the Medici apparently, for whatever reason, did not publish. In 1675 Leopoldo instructed him to enter a dispute about some trial problems in geometry published by Cristoforo Sadler, and Leopoldo then pressured him to publish his solutions-the Diporto geometrico attached to some copies of the Quinto libro di Euclide. Viviani also composed his life of Galileo, which took the form of a letter to Leopoldo, at the latter's behest. Favaro (pp. 103-9) details Viviani's efforts, which began in the mid 50's and continued for at least twenty years, to prepare an edition of Galileo's works. At every early step Leopoldo was involved in the project, which hinged on him. Later, after Viviani began to receive the pension from Louis XIV, he planned to dedicate the edition to him. However, the project languished, and all the more when it became evident that Louis would not take much joy in the works of a man who had been dead for thirty years. Favaro is explicit in stating that the Medici did not do all that well by a man of Viviani's capacity. It is not wholly clear to me that this is so, but if it is, he seems to me to contrast with Redi who grew wealthy in the service of the Medici. Perhaps Viviani was too useful. Viviani dedicated a mathematical publication in 1677 to Jean Chapelain, the councillor of Louis XIV who in 1664 had named Viviani was one of the twelve and thus secured for him the patronage of Louis. Chapelain was dead by 1677; the dedication was then a gift of gratitude for past favors. 9. Technological Connections: Military Engineer; Hydraulics; Scientific Instruments; Architecture; CEn In the 40's Viviani was sent to inspect the fortifications of Tuscany and to build up those along a threatened frontier. He was employed by the Grand Duke as an engineer with the Uffiziali dei Fiumi and worked on numerous projects including the channeling of the Chiana. He also worked on roads, pavements, and a bridge, and he did some architectural work. I would be willing to bet my shirt that he also did some cartography, though perhaps only in connection with the hydraulic engineering. At any rate, I did not see any mention of such. For the Accademia del Cimento he invented numerous instruments-to examine the compression of air, the specific gravity of fluids, the refraction of fluids, and capillary phenomena, as well as an air thermometer, a hygrometer, a hearing trumpet, and a telescope twenty palms long. 10. Scientific Societies: Accademia del Cimento, Royal Society (London); Académie royale des sciences (Paris); Membership in the Accademia del Cimento from its beginning in 1657. Fellow of the Royal Society in 1696. One of the eight foreign members upon the reorganization of the Académie Royale des Sciences in 1699. Viviani was also in the Arcadia in Rome (elected in 1701 I think) and in the Accademia della Crusca from 1661. He was Galileo's companion and pupil during the final two years of his life. He became a close friend of Torricelli and is the one who first performed the Torricellian experiment (the barometer), at Torricelli's instructions. Viviani undertook to publish Torricelli's works after his death but did not carry through. He was a close friend of Redi and Steno. He corresponded with Ricci, Sluse, degli Angeli, Huygens, Wallis, Leibniz, l'Hopital, the two Bernoullis, Grandi, and others. The affair over the publication of Apollonius led to a rupture with Borelli that was never healed. SOURCES:
Not Available and/or Not Consulted: A.
Fabroni, Vitae italiorum doctrina excellentium, (Pisa, 1778), 1,
307-44.
Vlacq [Vlack, Vlaccus], Adriaan
1. Dates: Born: Gouda, 1600; Died: The Hague, late 1666 or early 1667; Datecode Death Uncertain; Lifespan: 67 2. Father: Occupation: Unknown; The sources say only that he was from a well-to-do family. Nieuw; Nederlandsch Biographisch Woordenboek says that the family had furnished many members to the city government. I accept the statement that they were well-to-do. 3. Nationality: Birth: Dutch; Career: Dutch, English, French; Death: Dutch 4. Education: Schooling: No University; There is no mention of any university education. 5. Religion: Calvinist (assumed). 6. Scientific Disciplines: Mathematics; With a local surveyor he translated and published the new concept of logarithms in the 1620's. In 1628 he published the first full table of logs to base 10 from 1 to 100,000, calculated to ten places. As nearly as I can find out, this heroic task has never been repeated. All subsequent log tables are copies of Vlacq's. In 1633 he also published tables of the logs of the trigonometric functions. 7. Means of Support: Publishing; Vlacq was initially apparently a bookseller who became a publisher primarily to circulate his tables. 1632-42: He had a book business in London but left because of the Civil War. 1642-8: He had a book business in Paris. After 1648 he moved back to The Hague where he lived from then on. 8. Patronage: Court Official; The only suggestion of patronage is the dedication to Charles II of a royalist work, in English, which he published in 1652. The dedication is by Vlacq, not by the author. 9. Technological Involvement: Applied Mathematics; His mathematical work is all directed toward facilitating computations. 10. Scientific Societies: Memberships: None SOURCES:
Wallis John
1. Dates: Born: Ashford, Kent, 23 November 1616; Died: Oxford, 8 November 1703; Datecode Dates Certain; Lifespan: 87 2. Father; Occupation: Cleric; Also John Wallis, the father was the Rector of Ashford, who died when Wallis was six. In view of the estate Wallis inherited, they must have been in an affluent situation. Wallis went to Oxford as a pensioner. 3. Nationality: Birth: English; Career: English; Death: English. 4. Education: Schooling: Cambridge, M.A., Oxford, D.D. Grammar School at Tenterden, Kent, 1625-31. School of Martin Holbeach at Felsted, Essex, 1631-2. Cambridge University, Emmanuel College, 1632-40; B.A., 1637; M.A., 1640. He took a D.D. at Oxford in 1654; there is good reason to treat it as a serious degree even though Wallis had then been a professor at Oxford for five years. He performed all the exercises it was not granted by mandate. 5. Religion: Calvinist, Anglican. Wallis studied in Emmanuel, the Puritan college, and was in good favor there. He strongly supported the Puritan cause during the Civil War. He conformed without question at the Restoration, although he remained a Calvinist theologically, in conformity with the Thirty-nine Articles. 6. Scientific Disciplines: Mathematics; Subordinate Disciplines: Mechanics, Physics, Music; Wallis was probably the second most important English mathematician; during the 17th century, after Newton. He was the author of numerous books: Treatise of Angular Sections, composed in 1648, published finally in 1685; De sectionibus conicis, 1655, a pioneering analytic treatment of conics; Arithmetica infinitorum, 1656, a major contribution to integration and to infinite series; Commercium epistolicum, 1658, his exchange with Fermat on number theory; Treatise on Algebra, 1685, which includes a treatment of infinite series; Opera mathematica, 1693-9. Mechanica, sive de motu tractatus geometricus, 1669-71, an important contribution to mechanics and to the treatment of percussion (though much of it is devoted to the mathematical problem of centers of gravity). A Discourse of Gravity and Gravitation (real title is in Latin), 1674. De aestu maris hypothesis nova, 1668, a theory of the tides. He composed some papers on musical theory in Philosophical Transactions, and he editted several works on this subject. 7. Means of Support: Personal Means, Academia; Secondary Means of Support: Church Life, Patronage, Schoolmastering; He inherited a substantial estate in Kent from his mother, 1643. Ordained by the Bishop of Winchester, 1640. Private chaplain and minister to Sir Richard Darley at Buttercrambe, Yorkshire, 1640-2. Private chaplain and minister to the widow of Horatio Lord Vere, 1642-3. After deciphering a coded letter for the Parliamentary authorities, Wallis was rewarded with the sequestered living of St. Gabriel, London. He exchanged this living for St. Martin in Ironmonger Lane in 1647. Secretary to the Westminster Assembly of Divines, 1644. Fellowship at Queen's College, Cambridge, 1644-5. Savilian Professor of geometry at Oxford, 1649-1703. Custos archivarum to the University, Oxford, 1658-1703. Royal chaplain to the King, 1660. Appointed to commission to revise the prayer-book, c.1660. For instructing the deaf mute Alexander Popham he received ú100 per year for a period. 8. Patronage: Gentry, Government Official, Court Official, Eccesiastic Official; See Darley and Lady Vere above. Sir Horace Vere had been a military commander; I count him as gentry. Wallis owed his benefices in London, the fellowship at Queen's, and the professorship and position at the university archives at Oxford to the Parliamentary authorities (categorized as governmental officials). The appointment as Custos archivorum was a matter of bitter commentary in Oxford, as a royalist, whom the university community regarded as the rightful appointment, was passed over. Although Wallis' appointment must have been due to his standing as a Puritan and Parliamentarian, it is not clear precisely whose influence stood behind it. I list the appointment as secretary to the Westminster assembly under ecclesiastical official. Appointed royal chaplain to Charles II, 1660. Queen Mary II offered him the deanery of Hereford, which he declined. Though a prolific publisher, Wallis did not generally use dedications for patronage. Rather the vast majority of dedications were to scientific and academic peers--Oughtred, Rooke, Ward, Brouncker, Boyle, Moray, Hevelius, four heads of colleges in Oxford. (These dedications might bear examination.) He did dedicate Claudii Ptolemei harmonicarum libri tres, 1682, to Charles II and Opera mathematica, 1693- 9, to William III. 9. Technological Involvement: None 10. Scientific Societies: Royal Society (London). Informal Connections: Intimate friendship with Thomas Smith, John Collins, Edmond Halley, Samuel Pepys. Connections with Fermat, Brouncker, Frenicle, David Gregory, and Schooten. Scriba has published a very useful index of Wallis' extensive correspondence, over 800 letters excluding those on theology and university affairs. He quarreled with Hobbes, Henry Stubbe, Lewis Maydwell and Fermat. He was one of the so-called Invisible College in London in the 40s and then of the Oxford Circle that succeeded it. Later he was President of the Oxford Philosophical Society, 1684-8. Royal Society, 1660; President, 1680. SOURCES:
Not Available and Not Consulted: C.J. Scriba,
Studien zur Mathematik des John Wallis (1616-1703). Winketeilungen, Kombinationslehre
and zahlentheoretische Probleme, (Wiesbaden, 1966). _____, Introduction
to Wallis, Opera mathematica, (Hildesheim, 1972).
Ward, Seth
1. Dates: Born: Aspenden, Hertfordshire, 5 April 1617; Died: London, 6 January 1689; Datecode Dates Certain; Lifespan: 72 2. Father; Occupation: Lawyer; John Ward was an attorney. Pope ways that he had a good reputation but was not rich. His own father had squandered a considerable estate. Seth Ward went to Cambridge as a sizar. I do not see how to avoid the conclusion that the family was poor. 3. Nationality: Birth: English; Career: English; Death: English 4. Education: Schooling: Cambridge, M.A. Oxford, D.D. Cambridge University, Sidney-Sussex College, 1632-40; B.A., 1637; M.A., 1640. D.D., 1654, from Oxford. Ward and Wallis took doctorates in theology at the same time, and all of the evidence suggests that they were serious degrees, even though both men held chairs in the university at the time. 5. Religion: Anglican; The evidence on his early stance is a trifle ambiguous. He went to Sidney-Sussex, a Puritan college. However, he refused to take the Solemn League and Covenant, and with three others (Gunning, Barwick, and Barrow) he published a discourse against its legality. He was deprived of his fellowship in 1644. Then in 1649 he took the Engagement in order to receive the Savilian chair of astronomy. It is clear that Ward was, at least by then, an ambitious young man on the make, and I do not regard his taking the Engagement as evidence of Puritan views. With the Restoration he soon became an Anglican bishop and was known as a persecuting enemy of dissenters. 6. Scientific Disciplines: Astronomy; Subordinate Disciplines: Mathematics; Ward formulated an empty focus alternative to Kepler's law of areas. (A planet moved with uniform angular velocity around the empty focus of its ellipse.) He expounded the theory in both of his works on astronomy: Ismaelis Bullialdi astronimicae philolaicae fundamenta inquisitio brevis, 1653, and Astronomia geometrica, 1656. He also published De cometis, 1653. He published a mathematics text, Idea trigonometriae demonstratae, 1654. 7. Means of Support: Academic; Church Living; Secondary Means of Support: Patronage; Fellow of Sidney-Sussex College, Cambridge, 1640-4. Mathematical lecturer, 1643-4 (DNB says he was the university lecturer in mathematics; I was fairly certain that there was no such university position, but the details of the appointment sound like it was university rather than college.); When he was ejected in 1644, Ward took refuge with Samuel Ward's relatives in and around London, and with Oughtred at Albury. Afterwards he lived with the family of Ralph Freeman in Aspenden as tutor, 1644-9. He was then chaplain for a short time to Thomas Lord Wenman in Oxfordshire. Savilian Professor of Astronomy at Oxford, 1649-60. He was elected Principal of Jesus College, Oxford, 1657, but Cromwell installed another man. President of Trinity College, Oxford, 1659-60. At the Restoration the earlier president, a royalist, returned to the position and Ward was out. He was not rejected by the returning royalists, however. Vicar of St. Lawrence Jewry, 1660-1. In 1656 he had taken the precaution to be appointed precentor of the Exeter Cathedral by the non-acting bishop, and he even paid the fee. He was able to claim the position in 1660, and in 1661 received a prebend there and became Dean. Rector of Uplowman in Devonshire, 1661 (I think this went with the prebend). Rector of St. Breock in Cornwall, 1662. Bishop of Exeter, 1662-7. Bishop at Salisbury, 1667-89. Chancellor of the Order of the Garter, 1671-89. 8. Patronage: Court Official, Gentry, Eccesiastic Official, Aristrocrat; As sizar to Samuel Ward (no relation), Master of Sidney- Sussex, he won the Master's favor and gained the fellowship. (Because of lack of space I cannot list this.); He owed his ecclesiastical positions to Charles II, though also to the influence of others. In 1671 Charles restored to the Bishop of Salisbury the position of Chancellor of the Order of the Garter, after it had been alienated from the bishopric for 132 years, beginning under Henry VIII. Ralph Freeman and Lord Wenman (above). He owed his professorship of Oxford to the influence of Sir John Trevor. To Trevor he later dedicated a book. He owed his professorship partly to the recommendation of the royalist incumbent, Greaves. Owed his position of precentor of Exeter to Ralph Brownrig, Bishop in exile during the Civil War. This appointment was the foundation of all of Ward's good fortune after the Restoration. Aubrey has a great story of how the gentry of Devon exerted their influence to have Ward, the Dean, elevated to the bishopric in 1662. Pope brings in also the Duke of Albemarle and the Earl of Clarendon. Ward tutored Albemarle's son in mathematics. Ward dedicated Astronomia geometrica to a number of fellow astronomers: Paul Neile, Hevelius, Gassendi, Boulliau, and Riccioli. As a bishop, Ward himself became a patron. He endowed four (possibly six) scholarships at Christ's College, Cambridge. He received the dedication of Dr. Castle's lexicon and of the fourth volume of Oldenburg's Philosophical Transactions. 9. Technological Involvement: None; Ward was apparently responsible for making the Avon navigable to Salisbury. Nothing indicates that he was actively involved with the technical work, however. 10. Scientific Societies: Royal Society (London); Informal Connections: Friendship with Sir Charles Scarburgh and William Oughtred. Correspondence with Johann Hevelius. He was part of the Oxford group that centered on Wilkins. He was involved in a mathematical and philosophical controversy with Hobbes. Royal Society, 1660--one of the early members. SOURCES:
Webster, John
1. Dates: Born: Thornton, Craven, Yorkshire, 3 February 1610; Died: Clitheroe, Lancashire, 18 June 1682; Datecode Dates Certain; Lifespan: 72 2. Father: Occupation: No Information; No information on financial status. 3. Nationality: Birth: English; Career: English; Death: English 4. Education: Schooling: No University; He claimed once to have studied at Cambridge University. There are no records of this, and I assume that his claim was false. 5. Religion: Calvinist; A Puritan who was active on the Parliamentary side in the Civil War and did not conform at the Restoration. 6. Scientific Disciplines: Iatrochemistry; Subordinate Disciplines: Mineralogy; Webster is best known for a famous attack on the university curriculum, Academiarum examen, urging laboratory observation as in chemistry, a work drawing upon the Paracelsian tradition and on Van Helmont, and indebted as well to Fludd. He published Metallographia, 1671 (possibly an earlier edition in 1661), which again displayed his debt to Paracelsus and Van Helmont. Both in England and on the continent, this book was considered an important work on metals and on minerals. He also engaged in a debate on witchcraft with Glanvill, Casaubon, and More. Webster rejected witchcraft because Glanvill, Casaubon, and More linked it with magic and the occult sciences, which Webster, the Paracelsian, defended. 7. Means of Support: Church Life, Medicine; Secondary Means of Support: Schoolmastering; He was ordained in 1632. Curate of Kidwick, Craven, 1634--until the Civil War, I think. Master of the Free Grammar School at Clitheroe, 1643. Surgeon and Chaplain in the Parliamentary army, 1643-8. Vicar of Mitton, Yorkshire, c.1648 to perhaps 1653. Official minister at All Hallows (I think this is London), 1653-54. Webster was residing again in Clitheroe in 1657, when his books were seized by the authorities. Given the year and Webser's Puritanism, this episode appears to be a mystery to everyone. From that time he abandoned the ministry for good and turned to medicine to support himself for the rest of his life. 8. Patronage: Government Official; He enjoyed the favor of Parliament during the Civil War and Interregnum. The church appointments at Milton and All Hallows were his reward for service in the Puritan cause. 9. Technological Involvement: Medical Practice 10. Scientific Societies: Memberships: None; Informal Connections: Conflict with Ward and Wilkins on natural philosophy. Conflict with Glanvill, Casaubon, and More on witchcraft. SOURCES:
Wedel, Georg Wolfgang
1. Dates: Born: Golssen, Germany, 12 November 1645; Died: Jena, 6/7 September 1721; Datecode Dates Certain; Lifespan: 76 2. Father: Occupation: Cleric; His father, Johann Georg Wedel, was a pastor. No information on financial status. When the father died just as Wedel was completing his university studies, he was forced to give up plans to travel in order to seek income as a physician. All I can deduce from this is that the father was not wealthy. 3. Nationality: Birth: Golssen, Germany; Career: Jena, Germany; Death: Jena, Germany 4. Education: Schooling: Jena, M.D. 1656-61, he attended the famous school in Schulpforta with a scholarship from the Elector of Saxony. 1662, University of Jena, where he studied philosophy and especially medicine. He formed a close relationship with his teacher Guerner Rolfinck. I assume a B.A. or its equivalent. 1667, qualified for his medical license at Jena. 1669, took his M.D. at Jena, while practicing medicine in Gotha. 5. Religion: Lutheran 6. Scientific Disciplines: Medicine, Iatrochemistry, Pharmacology; Subordinate Disciplines: Alchemy; Wedel was one of the leading iatrochemists of his time, working under the influence of Sylvius. His medical publications leaned heavily in the pharmacological direction. He was convinced of the possibility of the transmutation of metals, and he published on alchemy. Wedel was an extremely productive author. 7. Means of Support: Medicine, Academic, Patronage; Secondary Means of Support: Government Official; 1667, he practiced medicine briefly in Landsberg. Later that year, after visitng various cities and receiving his medical license, he lectured at Jena. 1667-72, he was called to Gotha as district physician. 1673, he assumed the chair of anatomy, surgery, and botany at the University of Jena. I am assuming, without definite statement but not without suggestions, that Wedel, like nearly every professor of medicine, practiced. 1673-1719, later that year, upon the death of Rolfinck, he assumed the chair of theoretical medicine. During his long career at Jena, Wedel was Rector of the university some ten times. Both Stahl and Friedrich Hoffmann were his students. 1719-21, he assumed the chair of practical medicine and chemistry. Meanwhile, in 1679 he became the personal physician to the Duke of Weimar, and in 1685 to the Prince of Saxony. And he was appointed to various ruling councils (see below). At some point during his career in Jena he purchased a country est |