Mathematician:Bonaventura Francesco Cavalieri
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Mathematician
Italian mathematician who worked on optics and motion.
His approach to geometry was a precursor to integral calculus.
Introduced the logarithm to Italy.
A disciple of Galileo.
A member of the informal Académie Parisienne.
Nationality
Italian
History
- Born: 1598, Milan, Habsburg Empire (now Italy)
- 1615: Joined the religious order Jesuati in Milan, where he met and was greatly influenced by Galileo
- 1616: Transferred to the Jesuati monastery in Pisa
- 1619: Applied for the chair of mathematics in Bologna but considered too young
- 1621: Became a deacon and assistant to Cardinal Federico Borromeo at monastery in Milan
- 1623: Became prior of St Peter's at Lodi
- 1626: Went to the Gesuati monastery in Parma (note: not the Jesuits)
- 1629: Appointed to chair of mathematics at Bologna, where he taught mathematics till his death
- Died: 30 Nov 1647, Bologna, Papal States (now Italy)
Theorems
- Cavalieri's Principle (also known to Zu Geng)
Results named for Bonaventura Francesco Cavalieri can be found here.
Publications
- Lo Specchio Ustorio, overo, Trattato delle settioni coniche (The Burning Mirror, or a Treatise on Conic Sections)
- 1635: Geometria Indivisibilibus Continuorum Nova Quadam Ratione Promota (Geometry, developed by a new method through the indivisibles of the continua)
- Exercitationes geometricae sex
- Directorium Generale Uranometricum
- 1646: Trattato della ruota planetaria perpetua
- Tables of logarithms
Notable Quotes
- A line is made up of points like a string of beads; a plane area is made up of lines as a cloth is of threads; and a solid is made up of plane sections as a book is made up of pages.
Critical View
- I think sincerely that few men, if any, since Archimedes, have delved as far and as deep into the science of geometry ... he has discovered a new method for the study of mathematical truths; by it he proves in a shorter manner many of the theorems of Archimedes and other mathematicians.
Sources
- John J. O'Connor and Edmund F. Robertson: "Bonaventura Francesco Cavalieri": MacTutor History of Mathematics archive
- 1989: Ephraim J. Borowski and Jonathan M. Borwein: Dictionary of Mathematics ... (previous) ... (next): Cavalieri's principle
- 1992: George F. Simmons: Calculus Gems ... (previous) ... (next): Chapter $\text {A}.14$: Cavalieri ($\text {1598}$ – $\text {1647}$)
- 1998: David Nelson: The Penguin Dictionary of Mathematics (2nd ed.) ... (previous) ... (next): Cavalieri, Bonaventura Francesco
- 2008: David Nelson: The Penguin Dictionary of Mathematics (4th ed.) ... (previous) ... (next): Cavalieri, Bonaventura Francesco
- 2014: Christopher Clapham and James Nicholson: The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Mathematics (5th ed.) ... (previous) ... (next): Cavalieri, Bonaventura