BECCARIA, Giovanni Battista,
j?-va'n?
bat-t?s't?, Italian philosopher: b. Mondovi
1716; d. 27 April 1781. He went to Rome in 1732,
where he studied, and afterward taught grammar
and rhetoric; at the same time applying
himself with success to mathematics. He was
appointed professor of philosophy at Palermo,
and afterward at Rome. Charles Emmanuel,
King of Sardinia, invited him to Turin in 1748,
to fill the professorship of natural philosophy
at the university there. He paid much attention
to the subject of electricity, and published
‘Natural and Artificial Electricity’ (Turin
1735), besides many other valuable works on
this subject. In 1759 the King employed him
to measure a degree of the meridian in
Piedmont.