Mathematical Treasure: Torricelli’s Academic Lectures

Evangelista Torricelli (1608-1647) was an Italian mathematician and physicist who strongly supported Galileo’s theories. He is known for several accomplishments in mathematics, perhaps most notably the discovery of a solid that has a finite volume but an infinite surface area, “Torricelli’s trumpet.”

Above is the title page of Torricelli’s Academic Lectures (1715), which published mathematical and scientific work he presented to the Accademia della Crusca between 1642 and 1647. Below: The frontispiece contains a portrait of Torricelli.

The images above are presented courtesy of the University of Pennsylvania Libraries.

See images of Torricelli’s Academic Lectures from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Library Collection. The full work has been scanned by ETH-Bibliothek Zürich.

Index to Mathematical Treasures