Mathematical Treasure: Evangelista Torricelli's Academic Lectures

The 17th-century Italian mathematician and supporter of Galileo, Evangelista Torricelli, published only one book during his lifetime, Opera Geometria. The picture below is the title page of Lezione Accademiche d’Evangelista Torricelli or Academic Lectures of Evangelista Torricelli. This work (Linda Hall Library call number Q155.T69 1715) was published posthumously in 1715. It contains 12 lectures in Italian that Torricelli gave at various places, which were collected and published by Tommaso Bonaventuri. According to the Dictionary of Scientific Biography, most of the lectures were on physics, but one is “in praise of mathematics.”

Below is a picture of the title page.

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The frontispiece contains a portrait of Torricelli.

A digital scan is available in the Linda Hall Library Digital Collections. For more on Torricelli’s Academic Lectures, visit the Convergence pages “Mathematical Treasure: Academic Lectures by Torricelli” and “Mathematical Treasure: Torricelli’s Academic Lectures,” both by Frank J. Swetz.

Images in this article are courtesy of the Linda Hall Library of Science, Engineering & Technology and used with permission. The Linda Hall Library makes available all existing digital images from its collection that are in the public domain to be used for any purpose under the terms of a Creative Commons License CC by 4.0. The Library’s preferred credit line for all use is: “Courtesy of The Linda Hall Library of Science, Engineering & Technology.”

References

Gliozzi, Mario. “Torricelli, Evangelista.” In Dictionary of Scientific Biography, edited by C. C. Gillespie, xiii:433–440. New York: Scribner, 1972.

O'Connor, J. J., and E. F. Robertson. “Evangelista Torricelli.” MacTutor History of Mathematics archive. https://mathshistory.st-andrews.ac.uk/Biographies/Torricelli/.

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