Marc'Antonio Mazzoleni (date of birth unknown – died 1632) was a
Paduan instrument maker best known for his association with
Galileo Galilei, for whom Mazzoleni produced instruments including Galileo's
military compasses and other instruments.
Biography
Marc'Antonio Mazzoleni was the son of Paolo Mazzoleni, of the Mazzoleni family of Paduan clockmakers, and Marietta Bazi.
Marc'Antonio's uncle Francesco operated a successful artisan workshop in Padua.
Marc'Antonio's older brother Mario was to hold the chair in Natural Philosophy at the
University of Padua
The University of Padua ( it, Università degli Studi di Padova, UNIPD) is an Italian university located in the city of Padua, region of Veneto, northern Italy. The University of Padua was founded in 1222 by a group of students and teachers from ...
, a position that he held for thirty-six years.
Mazzoleni had been working as an instrument maker at the
Arsenale
The Venetian Arsenal ( it, Arsenale di Venezia) is a complex of former shipyards and armories clustered together in the city of Venice in northern Italy. Owned by the state, the Arsenal was responsible for the bulk of the Venetian republic's ...
in
Venice when, in 1597, Galileo hired him as his personal instrument maker.
In 1599, Mazzoleni, his wife, and his daughter moved into Galileo's home in
Padua, where Galileo was teaching at the University of Padua.
(Mazzoleni's wife became Galileo's cook and housekeeper.
)
Both during the four years he lived in Galileo's household and thereafter, Mazzoleni constructed instruments for Galileo, notably the military compass that Galileo invented and sold (along with an instruction manual written by Galileo).
Mazzoleni would build more than 100 of these compasses for Galileo.
Mazzoleni also helped Galileo produce other instruments, including hydrostatic balances, air thermometers, magnets and magnetic compasses for ships, and various kinds of
drawing compasses for engineers and architects.
For his services, Galileo paid Mazzoleni a meager salary of six crowns per year (in addition to room and board).
Mazzoleni continued to work with Galileo even after the latter's return to
Florence in 1610.
In 1612, Mazzoleni became regulator of the clock of the University of Padua's Palazzo del Bo'.
Mazzoleni died of the
plague in 1632.
Notes
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mazzoleni, Marcantonio
Engineers from Padua
1632 deaths
17th-century deaths from plague (disease)
Italian scientific instrument makers
Year of birth unknown