Federico Commandino (1509 – 5 September 1575) was an Italian

humanist Humanism is a philosophical stance that emphasizes the individual and social potential, and agency of human beings, whom it considers the starting point for serious moral and philosophical inquiry. The meaning of the term "humanism" ha ...

and

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, mathematical structure, structure, space, Mathematica ...

Born in

Urbino Urbino ( , ; Romagnol: ''Urbìn'') is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Italy, Italian region of Marche, southwest of Pesaro, a World Heritage Site notable for a remarkable historical legacy of independent Renaissance culture, especially und ...

, he studied at

Padua Padua ( ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) in Veneto, northern Italy, and the capital of the province of Padua. The city lies on the banks of the river Bacchiglione, west of Venice and southeast of Vicenza, and has a population of 20 ...

and then at

Ferrara Ferrara (; ; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) in Emilia-Romagna, Northern Italy, capital of the province of Ferrara. it had 132,009 inhabitants. It is situated northeast of Bologna, on the Po di Volano, a branch channel of the main ...

, where he received his doctorate in

medicine Medicine is the science and Praxis (process), practice of caring for patients, managing the Medical diagnosis, diagnosis, prognosis, Preventive medicine, prevention, therapy, treatment, Palliative care, palliation of their injury or disease, ...

under Antonio Musa Brassavola. He had numerous patrons throughout his life. Initially, aided by Grassi, the bishop of Viterbo, he then came under the patronage of Pope Clement VIII. In

, he was sponsored by Guidobaldo II della Rovere, but then came to Rome with cardinal Ranuccio Farnese. In Rome, he was patronized by Cardinal Cervini, who served briefly as Pope. Lured back to Urbino by Francesco Maria II della Rovere. In Urbino, he putatively met

John Dee John Dee (13 July 1527 – 1608 or 1609) was an English mathematician, astronomer, teacher, astrologer, occultist, and alchemist. He was the court astronomer for, and advisor to, Elizabeth I, and spent much of his time on alchemy, divination, ...

, and corresponded with the scholars Conrad Dasypodius (il Dasipodio),

Gerolamo Cardano Gerolamo Cardano (; also Girolamo or Geronimo; ; ; 24 September 1501– 21 September 1576) was an Italian polymath whose interests and proficiencies ranged through those of mathematician, physician, biologist, physicist, chemist, astrologer, as ...

Francesco Maurolico Francesco Maurolico (Latin: ''Franciscus Maurolycus''; Italian language, Italian: ''Francesco Maurolico''; ; Sicilian language, Sicilian: ''Francescu Maurolicu''; 16 September 1494 – 22 July 1575) was an Italian mathematician and astronomer fr ...

, and

Christopher Clavius Christopher Clavius, (25 March 1538 – 6 February 1612) was a Jesuit German mathematician, head of mathematicians at the , and astronomer who was a member of the Vatican commission that accepted the proposed calendar invented by Aloysius ...

. He was most famous for his central role as translator of works of ancient mathematicians. In this, his sources were primarily written in Greek and secondarily in Arabic, while his translations were primarily in Latin and secondarily in Italian. He was responsible for the publication of many treatises of

Archimedes Archimedes of Syracuse ( ; ) was an Ancient Greece, Ancient Greek Greek mathematics, mathematician, physicist, engineer, astronomer, and Invention, inventor from the ancient city of Syracuse, Sicily, Syracuse in History of Greek and Hellenis ...

. He also translated the works of

Aristarchus of Samos Aristarchus of Samos (; , ; ) was an ancient Greek astronomer and mathematician who presented the first known heliocentric model that placed the Sun at the center of the universe, with the Earth revolving around the Sun once a year and rotati ...

(''On the sizes and distances of the Sun and the Moon''),

Pappus of Alexandria Pappus of Alexandria (; ; AD) was a Greek mathematics, Greek mathematician of late antiquity known for his ''Synagoge'' (Συναγωγή) or ''Collection'' (), and for Pappus's hexagon theorem in projective geometry. Almost nothing is known a ...

(''Mathematical collection''),

Hero of Alexandria Hero of Alexandria (; , , also known as Heron of Alexandria ; probably 1st or 2nd century AD) was a Greek mathematician and engineer who was active in Alexandria in Egypt during the Roman era. He has been described as the greatest experimental ...

(''Pneumatics''), Ptolemy of Alexandria (''Planisphere'' and ''Analemma''),

Apollonius of Perga Apollonius of Perga ( ; ) was an ancient Greek geometer and astronomer known for his work on conic sections. Beginning from the earlier contributions of Euclid and Archimedes on the topic, he brought them to the state prior to the invention o ...

(''Conics'') and

Euclid of Alexandria Euclid (; ; BC) was an ancient Greek mathematician active as a geometer and logician. Considered the "father of geometry", he is chiefly known for the '' Elements'' treatise, which established the foundations of geometry that largely domina ...

(''Elements''). Among his pupils was

Guidobaldo del Monte Guidobaldo del Monte (11 January 1545 – 6 January 1607, var. Guidobaldi or Guido Baldi), Marquis del Monte, was an Italian mathematician, philosopher and astronomer of the 16th century. Biography Del Monte was born in Pesaro. His father, Rani ...

and Bernardino Baldi. Commandino maintained a correspondence with the astronomer

. The proposition known as Commandino's theorem first appears in his work on centers of gravity.

References

;Sources * *E Rosen, Biography in Dictionary of Scientific Biography (New York 1970-1990). * J V Field, The invention of infinity : Mathematics and art in the Renaissance (Oxford, 1997). *M Kemp, The science of art (New Haven, 1992). *D Bertoloni Meli, Guidobaldo dal Monte and the Archimedean revival, Nuncius Ann. Storia Sci. 7 (1) (1992), 3-34. *M Biagioli, The social status of Italian mathematicians, 1450-1600, Hist. of Sci. 27 (75)(1) (1989), 41-95. *S Drake and I Drabkin, Mechanics in Sixteenth-Century Italy (Madison, Wis., 1969), 41-44. *T Frangenberg, The image and the moving eye : Jean Pélerin (Viator) to Guidobaldo del Monte, J. Warburg Courtauld Inst. 49 (1986), 150-171. *E Gamba, Documents of Muzio Oddi for the history of the proportional compass (Italian), Physis Riv. Internaz. Storia Sci. (N.S.) 31 (3) (1994), 799-815. *P D Napolitani, Commandino and Maurolico : publishing the classics (Italian), in Torquato Tasso and the University (Italian), Ferrara, 1995 (Florence, 1997), 119-141. *P Neville, The printer's copy of Commandino's translation of Archimedes, 1558, Nuncius Ann. Storia Sci. 1 (2) (1986), 7-12. *P L Rose, Commandino, John Dee, and the De superficierum divisionibus of Machometus Bagdedinus, Isis 63 (216) (1972), 88-93. *P L Rose, Plusieurs manuscrits autographes de Federico Commandino à la Bibliothèque Nationale de Paris, Rev. Histoire Sci. Appl. 24 (4) (1971), 299-307. *P L Rose, The Italian Renaissance of Mathematics (Geneva, 1975), 185-221. *P L Rose, Letters illustrating the career of Federico Commandino, Physis - Riv. Internaz. Storia Sci. 15 (1973), 401-410. *E Rosen, John Dee and Commandino, Scripta mathematica 28 (1970), 321-326.

Bibliography

*''Archimedis De iis quae vehuntur in aqua libri duo/ a Frederico Commandino restituti et commentariis illustrati'', Bononiae: Ex officina Alexandri Benacii (1565), 45 p.

External links

* * * 1509 births 1575 deaths Writers from Urbino Italian Renaissance humanists 16th-century Italian mathematicians {{Italy-mathematician-stub