Carlo Roberto Dati

Carlo Roberto Dati (2 October 1619 – 1676) was a Florentine nobleman, philologist and scientist, a disciple of Galileo (1564-1642) and, in his youth, an acquaintance of Evangelista Torricelli (1608-1647).

Biography

Dati was born in Florence. He was first educated under Pietro Vettorio the Younger, but then learned classical languages from Giovanni Battista Doni.

He befriended Lorenzo Magalotti (1637-1712) and Francesco Redi (1626-1697). Redi dedicated his ''Esperienze intorno alla generazione degl'insetti'' xperiments on the generation of insects(Florence, 1668) to Dati. A founder of the Accademia del Cimento, Dati participated assiduously in its meetings. He was admitted as a member of the Accademia della Crusca at the age of 21 year in 1640. He became Secretary for that society in 1647, and initiated the work that led to the third edition of the ''Vocabolario'' (1691) and wrote the ''Discorso dell'obbligo di ben parlare la propria lingua'' (1657), in which he staunchly claimed the supremacy of Florentine Italian. In 1645 he became a member of the Accademia degli Apatisti with the anagrammatic pseudonym of “Currado Bartoletti.” On October 1649, he earned the honor of being fully elected ''apatista reggente'' with the pseudonym of “Ardaclito.” In 1648, Upon Doni's death, Dati replaced him as professor of classical literature at the Florentine Studio.

He authored many scientific works, including the ''Lettera ai Filaleti della vera storia della cicloide e della famosissima esperienza dell'argento vivo'' etter to the Filaleti regarding the true story of the cycloid and the well-known sterling silver experience(Florence, 1663), written under the pseudonym of Timauro Antiate. In it, he claimed the Tuscan - and thus Medicean - priority in the correct interpretation of Torricelli's 1644 experiment, which had sparked a lively discussion all over Europe. He also published many historical, political, and literary works, including the fascinating ''Vite de' pittori antichi'' (Lives of Ancient Painters, 1667), dedicated to Louis XIV (1638-1715), and considered the first attempt at a documentary history of painting in classical antiquity. This work earned him a European reputation and was lavishly praised by Pierre Bayle.

Dati became a friend of John Milton and Nicolaas Heinsius the Elder on their travels through Florence, and continued a correspondence with them. Dati was only eighteen years old when Milton met him, yet his eloquence and scientific and historical knowledge were already widely acknowledged. He lavished praise on Milton in a Latin letter he wrote while Milton was still in Florence; Milton saved the letter and printed it in the ''testimonia'' that preface the Latin section of his 1645 ''Poems''. Dati is commemorated in the “emblematic lines” of Milton's Latin poem ''Epitaphium Damonis'' when describing in allegorical terms his experiences in Italian academies (''Epitaphium Damonis'' line 137); one of Milton's latin letters to Dati survives (dated 21 April 1647), as do two of Dati's italian letters to Milton (dated 22 October/1 November 1647 and 24 November/4 December 1648 respectively). Milton listed Dati among his Italian friends in '' Pro populo anglicano defensio secunda''.

In fiction

Carlo Roberto Dati appears in Lorenzo Lippi's ''Malmantile Racquistato'' under the anagrammatic name of Alticardo.

Works

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References

External links

* Museo Galileo.
Carlo Roberto Dati
. Catalogue of the Museo Galileo's Instruments on Display. ''catalogue.museogalileo.it''
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Dati, Carlo
1619 births
1676 deaths
Italian scientific instrument makers
17th-century Italian writers
Italian philologists
17th-century Italian scientists
Scientists from Florence
Italian Roman Catholics
People from Florence
University of Florence faculty