Bernardino Baldi (5 June 1553 – 10 October 1617) was an Italian

mathematician A mathematician is someone who uses an extensive knowledge of mathematics in their work, typically to solve mathematical problems. Mathematicians are concerned with numbers, data, quantity, structure, space, models, and change. History On ...

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral or writte ...

translator Translation is the communication of the Meaning (linguistic), meaning of a #Source and target languages, source-language text by means of an Dynamic and formal equivalence, equivalent #Source and target languages, target-language text. The ...

and

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particu ...

Baldi descended from a noble family from

Urbino Urbino ( ; ; Romagnol: ''Urbìn'') is a walled city in the Marche region of Italy, south-west of Pesaro, a World Heritage Site notable for a remarkable historical legacy of independent Renaissance culture, especially under the patronage of ...

Marche Marche ( , ) is one of the twenty regions of Italy. In English, the region is sometimes referred to as The Marches ( ). The region is located in the central area of the country, bordered by Emilia-Romagna and the republic of San Marino to the ...

, where he was born. He pursued his studies at

Padua Padua ( ; it, Padova ; vec, Pàdova) is a city and ''comune'' in Veneto, northern Italy. Padua is on the river Bacchiglione, west of Venice. It is the capital of the province of Padua. It is also the economic and communications hub of the ...

, and is said to have spoken about sixteen languages during his lifetime, though according to Tiraboschi the inscription on his tomb limits the number to twelve. The appearance of the plague at

forced him to return to his native city. Shortly afterwards he was called to act as tutor to

Ferrante Gonzaga Ferrante I Gonzaga (also Ferdinando I Gonzaga; 28 January 1507 – 15 November 1557) was an Italian condottiero, a member of the House of Gonzaga and the founder of the branch of the Gonzaga of Guastalla. Biography He was born in Mantua, the ...

, from whom he received the rich abbey of

Guastalla Guastalla ( Guastallese: ) is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Reggio Emilia in Emilia-Romagna, Italy. Geography Guastalla is situated in the Po Valley, and lies on the banks of the Po River. Guastalla is located at around from the citie ...

. The oldest biography of

Nicolaus Copernicus Nicolaus Copernicus (; pl, Mikołaj Kopernik; gml, Niklas Koppernigk, german: Nikolaus Kopernikus; 19 February 1473 – 24 May 1543) was a Renaissance polymath, active as a mathematician, astronomer, and Catholic Church, Catholic cano ...

was completed on 7 October 1588 by him.On the revolutions, Foundations of natural history, Band 1, p.335, Nicolaus Copernicus: Complete Works, Edward Rosen, Johns Hopkins University Press, 1992. He held office as

abbot Abbot is an ecclesiastical title given to the male head of a monastery in various Western religious traditions, including Christianity. The office may also be given as an honorary title to a clergyman who is not the head of a monastery. The fem ...

for 25 years, and then returned once again to Urbino. In 1612 he was employed by the duke as his envoy to

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 ...

. Baldi died at Urbino on 12 October 1617. He is said to have written upwards of a hundred different works, the chief part of which have remained unpublished. His various works show his abilities as a

theologian Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the ...

geographer A geographer is a physical scientist, social scientist or humanist whose area of study is geography, the study of Earth's natural environment and human society, including how society and nature interacts. The Greek prefix "geo" means "earth" a ...

antiquary An antiquarian or antiquary () is an fan (person), aficionado or student of antiquities or things of the past. More specifically, the term is used for those who study history with particular attention to ancient artifact (archaeology), artifac ...

historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the stu ...

and

. The ''Cronica dei Matematici'' (published at Urbino in 1707) is an abridgement of a larger work on which he had written for twelve years, and was intended to contain the lives of more than two hundred mathematicians. His life has been written of by Affò, Mazzucchelli and others.

Writing

Scientific Works

De gli automati, overo machine se moventi, Volume 2
(Venice, 1589; repr. 1601), ''On

Automaton An automaton (; plural: automata or automatons) is a relatively self-operating machine, or control mechanism designed to automatically follow a sequence of operations, or respond to predetermined instructions.Automaton – Definition and More ...

s''; Author:

Hero of Alexandria Hero of Alexandria (; grc-gre, Ἥρων ὁ Ἀλεξανδρεύς, ''Heron ho Alexandreus'', also known as Heron of Alexandria ; 60 AD) was a Greece, Greek mathematician and engineer who was active in his native city of Alexandria, Roman Egy ...

, translated from the Greek
Scamilli impares Vitruviani
(Augsburg, 1612)
De Vitruvianorum verborum significatione
(Augsburg, 1612) -- a.k.a. Lexicon Vitruvianum
Heronis Ctesibii Belopoeeca
(Augsburg, 1616)
In mechanica Aristotelis
problemata exercitationes. (Aristotle's Mechanics) (Mainz, 1621)
Cronica de matematici
overo Epitome dell'istoria delle vite loro (Urbino, 1707)

Other works

*La corona dell'anno (Venice, 1589) *Versi e Prose di Monsignor Bernardino Baldi da Urbino (Venice, 1590) *II Lauro, scherzo giouenile (Pavia, 1600)
La Deifobe, overo gli oracoli della Sibilla Cumea Monodia
(Venice, 1604) (About the Oracles of the

Cumaean Sibyl The Cumaean Sibyl was the priestess presiding over the Apollonian oracle at Cumae, a Greek colony located near Naples, Italy. The word ''sibyl'' comes (via Latin) from the ancient Greek word ''sibylla'', meaning prophetess. There were many sibyls ...

) *Il Diluvio universale, cantato, con nuova maniera di versi (Pavia, 1604) *Concetti morali (Rome, 1607) *Oratione di Bernardino Baldi ... alla Serenità del nouvo Duce M. Antonio Memmo (Venice, 1613) *In tabvlam aeneam Evgvbinam, lingua Hetrusca veteri perscriptam, divinatio (Augusta Vindelicorum, 1613)
La Nautica: PoemaEncomio della patria
(1706)

Notes

References

* * * Rose, Rose and Wright
A New General Biographical Dictionary (1857), pp. 46-48.
(in Google Books) *

External links

Online Galleries, History of Science Collections, University of Oklahoma Libraries
High resolution images of works by and/or portraits of Bernardino Baldi in .jpg and .tiff format. {{DEFAULTSORT:Baldi, Bernardino 1533 births 1617 deaths People from Urbino 16th-century Italian Roman Catholic priests 17th-century Italian Roman Catholic priests Christian Hebraists 16th-century Italian mathematicians 17th-century Italian mathematicians Catholic clergy scientists 17th-century Italian writers 17th-century Italian male writers