Lorenzo Mascheroni (; May 13, 1750 – July 14, 1800) was an

Italian mathematician A list of notable mathematicians from Italy by century: 12th–15th centuries 12th century *Plato Tiburtinus 13th century *Guido Bonatti * Campano da Novara *Leonardo Fibonacci 14th century *Paolo dell'Abbaco * Giovanni di Gherardo da Prato ...

Biography

He was born near

Bergamo Bergamo (; lmo, Bèrghem ; from the proto- Germanic elements *''berg +*heim'', the "mountain home") is a city in the alpine Lombardy region of northern Italy, approximately northeast of Milan, and about from Switzerland, the alpine lakes Como ...

Lombardy Lombardy ( it, Lombardia, Lombard language, Lombard: ''Lombardia'' or ''Lumbardia' '') is an administrative regions of Italy, region of Italy that covers ; it is located in the northern-central part of the country and has a population of about 10 ...

. At first mainly interested in the humanities (

poetry Poetry (derived from the Greek ''poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke meanings i ...

and

Greek language Greek ( el, label=Modern Greek, Ελληνικά, Elliniká, ; grc, Ἑλληνική, Hellēnikḗ) is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages, native to Greece, Cyprus, southern Italy (Calabria and Salento), southern Al ...

), he eventually became professor of mathematics at

Pavia Pavia (, , , ; la, Ticinum; Medieval Latin: ) is a town and comune of south-western Lombardy in northern Italy, south of Milan on the lower Ticino river near its confluence with the Po. It has a population of c. 73,086. The city was the capit ...

. In his ''Geometria del Compasso'' (Pavia, 1797), he proved that any geometrical construction which can be done with

compass and straightedge In geometry, straightedge-and-compass construction – also known as ruler-and-compass construction, Euclidean construction, or classical construction – is the construction of lengths, angles, and other geometric figures using only an ideali ...

, can also be done with compasses alone. However, the priority for this result (now known as the

Mohr–Mascheroni theorem In mathematics, the Mohr–Mascheroni theorem states that any geometric construction that can be performed by a compass and straightedge can be performed by a compass alone. It must be understood that by "any geometric construction", we are refer ...

) belongs to the

Dane Dane or Danes may refer to: People Pertaining to Denmark * Dane, somebody from Denmark * Danes, an ethnic group native to Denmark * Danes (Germanic tribe) Other people * Dane (name), a surname and a given name (and a list of people with the nam ...

Georg Mohr Jørgen Mohr (Latinised ''Georg(ius) Mohr''; 1 April 1640 – 26 January 1697) was a Danish mathematician, known for being the first to prove the Mohr–Mascheroni theorem, which states that any geometric construction which can be done with comp ...

, who had previously published a proof in 1672 in an obscure book, ''

Euclides Danicus ''Euclides Danicus'' (the Danish Euclid) is one of three books of mathematics written by Georg Mohr. It was published in 1672 simultaneously in Copenhagen and Amsterdam, in Danish and Dutch respectively. It contains the first proof of the Mohr–Ma ...

''. This problem was the source of a musical composition called "Mascheroni Circles", performed by

David Stutz David (; , "beloved one") (traditional spelling), , ''Dāwūd''; grc-koi, Δαυΐδ, Dauíd; la, Davidus, David; gez , ዳዊት, ''Dawit''; xcl, Դաւիթ, ''Dawitʿ''; cu, Давíдъ, ''Davidŭ''; possibly meaning "beloved one". w ...

on the album Iolet. In his ''Adnotationes ad calculum integrale Euleri'' (1790) he published a calculation of what is now known as the

Euler–Mascheroni constant Euler's constant (sometimes also called the Euler–Mascheroni constant) is a mathematical constant usually denoted by the lowercase Greek letter gamma (). It is defined as the limiting difference between the harmonic series and the natural l ...

, usually denoted as (gamma). He died in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

Works

External links

* 1750 births 1800 deaths People from the Province of Bergamo 18th-century Italian mathematicians Geometers {{Italy-mathematician-stub