Italian mathematician
Francesco Eschinardi
, also known under the pseudonym of
Costanzo Amichevoli
(13 December 1623 ? 12 January 1703), was an Italian
Jesuit
,
physicist
and
mathematician
.
[2]
[3]
Life
[
edit
]
Eschinardi was born in
Rome
on 13 December 1623. He entered the
Society of Jesus
in 1637 at the age of 14 and subsequently joined the faculty of the
Roman College
, teaching
logic
in 1658,
physics
in 1659, and
metaphysics
in 1660. Traveling extensively, he taught at various Jesuit
seminaries
and Italian universities. He became professor of
mathematics
in
Florence
and at
Perugia
, then from 1665 he was again teaching at the Roman College, where he held the chair of mathematics,
geometry
and
astronomy
.
[2]
He was
Filippo Bonanni
's tutor and
Giuseppe Campani
's scientific mentor.
Eschinardi had a solid scientific background and knowledge of the works of the proponents of the ‘
new science
’, from
Copernicus
to
Galilei
and
Borelli
.
[2]
He was concerned with a great number of scientific projects, ranging from the physics of
sound
to
perpetual motion
, and he also was involved with attempting to graduate
thermometers
on a scientific principle.
[5]
He was also a skilled astronomer who carried out much valuable work. From his observatory at the Roman College, he was the first to observe the great
comet
of 1668.
[2]
Together with Marco Antonio Cellio and Giuseppe Pontio, Eschinardi was one of the first to see the
great comet of 1680
on 17 November while observing the
moons of Jupiter
to determine
longitudes
.
[6]
Cassini received the observations of the comet from Eschinardi while
Edmond Halley
was in Paris in the first weeks of 1681, and in the autumn of 1681 Halley met Eschinardi in Rome, where he learnt at first hand of the observations.
[6]
Eschinardi had a deep interest in the
archaeology
of Rome and the conversations between the two probably stimulated the interest in Roman archaeology that led to some of Halley's papers in
Philosophical Transactions
.
[7]
Eschinardi was an active member of the Physical-Mathematical Academy founded by
Giovanni Ciampini
and contributed regularly to the
Giornale de' Letterati
from 1668 to 1675.
[2]
He often collaborated with his fellow Jesuits
Athanasius Kircher
and
Mario Bettinus
. Bettinus'
Apiaria universae philosophiae mathematicae
, published in 1648, included an appendix describing a
water clock
(
horologium hydraulicum
) invented by Eschinardi.
[8]
He died in Rome on 12 January 1703.
Contributions
[
edit
]
Eschinardi was one of the great Jesuit
experimentalists
of the latter half of the Seventeenth century. Though still tied to certain traditional patterns, especially in astronomy with the reaffirmation of the
geocentric theory
, he showed a sincere admiration for the innovative work of modern scholars and the desire to follow in their footsteps by using the
experimental method
.
[2]
In 1680 Eschinardi published an account of experiments, many of which he designed and analyzed, performed at the Physical-Mathematical Academy (
Raguagli ... dati ad un'amico in Parigi
[
G. D. Cassini
]
sopra alcuni pensieri sperimentali proposti nell'Accademia Fisicomatematica di Roma
. Rome: Tinassi, 1680). Almost half of the
Raguagli
deals with traditional
mechanical
subjects, like load-bearing wheels (the principles of carriages being a chief interest of Ciampini's), the operation of the
rudder
, and the improvement of clocks. Eschinardi follows Galileo's lead in mechanics in most respects, including the
kinematics
of
free fall
and
projectile motion
.
The
Raguagli
report various plans and results, for example, a proposal by Ciampini to build in Rome a great
sundial
for the exact observation of the
solstices
and
equinoxes
, as Cassini had done in Bologna, a project later accomplished by
Francesco Bianchini
on commission from
Pope Clement XI
.
For the rest, Eschinardi's work discusses all the current problems in
observational astronomy
: how best to determine
atmospheric refraction
, observe
eclipses
, measure the moon's
libration
, diversify
gnomonics
, and so on. The
Raguagli
discuss also physical problems, including the improvement and use of thermometers, and
Torricelli's experiment
.
Eschinardi showed a keen interest in geography and engineering. In his “Speech on the cutting of the Isthmus between the Red Sea and the Mediterranean”
[11]
delivered in 1680 at the Physical-Mathematical Academy, Eschinardi explored the idea of a proto-
Suez Canal
between the
Mediterranean
and the
Red Sea
.
[2]
As a geographer, he mapped the
Ager Romanus
. Eschinardi was also the first to provide information about the nocturnal
projection clock
invented by
Matteo Campani-Alimenis
.
[12]
Historians of science today emphasize the importance of Eschinardi's work in optics and in the development of the
thermometer
.
[13]
Eschinardi and
James Gregory
were engaged in a dispute regarding who was the initiator of the principle of optical equivalence.
Works
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
Omodeo, Pietro (1972).
"BUONANNI, Filippo"
.
Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani
, Volume 15: Buffoli?Caccianemici
(in Italian). Rome:
Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana
.
ISBN
978-8-81200032-6
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
Muccillo 1993
.
- ^
"Eschinardi, Francesco"
(in German).
German National Library
.
- ^
See Riccardo G. Villoslada,
Storia del Collegio romano dal suo inizio (1551) alla soppressione della Compagnia di Gesu (1773)
(Romae: Apud universitatis gregorianae, 1954), 187, 327, 330?32, 335; and Jean Michel Gardair,
Le Giornale de' letterati de Rome (1668?1681)
(Firenze: Olschki, 1984), 125?30.
- ^
a
b
Cook, Alan H.
Edmond Halley Charting the Heavens and the Seas
. Clarendon Press. pp. 119?124.
ISBN
0198500319
.
- ^
Cook, A. (2003). "Improving natural knowledge. The Royal Society of London, 1660-1850".
Le Accademie nazionali nel contesto culturale europeo
. Rome: Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei: 29.
ISBN
9788821808883
.
- ^
Bedini, Silvio A.
(1991).
The Pulse of Time: Galileo Galilei, the Determination of Longitude, and the Pendulum Clock
. Florence:
Leo S. Olschki
. p. 33.
ISBN
978-8822238566
.
- ^
Eschinardi, Francesco (1681).
"Discorso sopra il taglio dello stretto di terra fra il Mar Rosso ed il Mediterraneo"
.
Lettera del padre Francesco Eschinardi della Compagnia di Giesu al signor Francesco Redi, nella quale si contengono alcuni discorsi fisicomatematici
. Rome: nella stamperia di Nicol'Angelo Tinassi: 1?12.
- ^
Francesco Eschinardi,
Centuriae opticae pars altera: seu, Dialogi optici pars tertia in qua definitiones, seu explicatio terminorum : problemata reliqua, quae desiderantur in prima parte ad complendam centuriam ...
(Romae: Typis Nicolai Angeli Tinassij, 1668), 222.
- ^
Klaiber, Susan (2014). "Architecture and Mathematics in Early Modern Religious Orders".
Geometrical Objects. Architecture and the Mathematical Sciences 1400-1800
. Springer International Publishing: 142.
ISBN
9783319059983
.
Sources
[
edit
]
- Muccillo, Maria (1993).
"ESCHINARDI, Francesco"
.
Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani
, Volume 43: Enzo?Fabrizi
(in Italian). Rome:
Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana
. pp. 273?274.
ISBN
978-8-81200032-6
.
- Fazzari, Michela (2007). "Incredibili visioni: Roma e i microscopi alla fine del '600". In Dario Generali; Marc J. Ratcliff (eds.).
From Makers to Users. Microscopes, Markets and Scientific Practices in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries ? Dagli artigiani ai naturalisti. Microscopi, offerta dei mercati e pratiche scientifiche nei secoli XVII e XVIII
. Florence: Olschki. pp. 3?42.
doi
:
10.1400/178212
.
- Elazar, Michael; Feldhay, Rivka (2018). "Jesuit Conceptions of Impetus After Galileo: Honore Fabri, Paolo Casati, and Francesco Eschinardi".
Emergence and Expansion of Pre-Classical Mechanics
. Boston Studies in the Philosophy and History of Science.
270
: 285?323.
doi
:
10.1007/978-3-319-90345-3_10
.
ISBN
978-3-319-90343-9
.
- Knowles Middleton, W. E. (1975). "Science in Rome, 1675-1700, and the Accademia Fisicomatematica of Giovanni Giustino Ciampini".
The British Journal for the History of Science
.
8
(2): 138?154.
JSTOR
4025638
.
- Shapiro, Alan E. (2008). "Images: Real and Virtual, Projected and Perceived, from Kepler to Dechales".
Early Science and Medicine
.
13
(3): 270?312.
JSTOR
20617731
.
- Ciancio, Luca; Romagnani, Gian Paolo (2010).
Unita del sapere, molteplicita dei saperi: Francesco Bianchini (1662-1729), tra natura, storia e religione
. Verona: QuiEdit. pp. 60?61.
ISBN
978-8864640648
.
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