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. It considers human beings the starting point for serious moral and philosophical inquiry. The meaning of the term "humani ...

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, structure, space, models, and change. History On ...

Born in

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 ...

, he studied 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 at

Ferrara Ferrara (, ; egl, Fràra ) is a city and ''comune'' 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 stream ...

, where he received his doctorate in

medicine Medicine is the science and practice of caring for a patient, managing the diagnosis, prognosis, prevention, treatment, palliation of their injury or disease, and promoting their health. Medicine encompasses a variety of health care pract ...

. 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 a Greek mathematician, physicist, engineer, astronomer, and inventor from the ancient city of Syracuse in Sicily. Although few details of his life are known, he is regarded as one of the leading scientists ...

. He also translated the works of

Aristarchus of Samos Aristarchus of Samos (; grc-gre, Ἀρίσταρχος ὁ Σάμιος, ''Aristarkhos ho Samios''; ) was an ancient Greek astronomer An astronomer is a scientist in the field of astronomy who focuses their studies on a specific question or ...

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

Pappus of Alexandria Pappus of Alexandria (; grc-gre, Πάππος ὁ Ἀλεξανδρεύς; AD) was one of the last great Greek mathematicians of antiquity known for his ''Synagoge'' (Συναγωγή) or ''Collection'' (), and for Pappus's hexagon theorem i ...

(''Mathematical collection''),

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 ...

(''Pneumatics''),

Ptolemy of Alexandria Claudius Ptolemy (; grc-gre, Πτολεμαῖος, ; la, Claudius Ptolemaeus; AD) was a mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist, who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were of importance ...

(''Planisphere'' and ''Analemma''),

Apollonius of Perga Apollonius of Perga ( grc-gre, Ἀπολλώνιος ὁ Περγαῖος, Apollṓnios ho Pergaîos; la, Apollonius Pergaeus; ) was an Ancient Greek geometer and astronomer known for his work on conic sections. Beginning from the contribution ...

(''Conics'') and

Euclid of Alexandria Euclid (; grc-gre, Εὐκλείδης; 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 g ...

(''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, ...

and

Bernardino Baldi Bernardino Baldi (5 June 1553 – 10 October 1617) was an Italian mathematician, poet, translator and priest. Baldi descended from a noble family from Urbino, Marche, where he was born. He pursued his studies at Padua, and is said to have spoken ...

. Commandino maintained a correspondence with the astronomer

Francesco Maurolico Francesco Maurolico (Latin: ''Franciscus Maurolycus''; Italian: ''Francesco Maurolico''; gr, Φραγκίσκος Μαυρόλυκος, 16 September 1494 - 21/22 July 1575) was a mathematician and astronomer from Sicily. He made contributions t ...

. The proposition known as

Commandino's theorem Commandino's theorem, named after Federico Commandino (1509–1575), states that the four medians of a tetrahedron are concurrent at a point ''S'', which divides them in a 3:1 ratio. In a tetrahedron a median is a line segment that connects a vert ...

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 Muzio or Mutio Oddi (15 December 1569, Urbino – 15 December 1639, Urbino) was an Italian mathematician and Gnomonist. Biography He was born to Lisabetta Genga and Lattanzio Oddi. His initial training was in eloquence and philosophy, but he later ...

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 People from Urbino Italian Renaissance humanists 16th-century Italian mathematicians {{Italy-mathematician-stub