Giuseppe Moletti (1531–1588) was an Italian

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 ...

best known for his ''Dialogo intorno alla Meccanica'' (Dialogue on Mechanics). Though an obscure figure today, he was a renowned mathematician during his lifetime, and was even consulted by

Pope Gregory XIII Pope Gregory XIII ( la, Gregorius XIII; it, Gregorio XIII; 7 January 1502 – 10 April 1585), born Ugo Boncompagni, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 13 May 1572 to his death in April 1585. He is best known for ...

on his new calendar.
/sup> He held the mathematics chair 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 ...

, preceding Galileo, who had sent him his theorems on the

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''Dialogo intorno alla Meccanica''

In his ''Dialogo intorno alla Meccanica'' (''Dialogue on Mechanics''), Moletti "intended to establish its Euclidean foundations... ndto extend mechanics generally to explain all motions through the analysis of their forces and resistances". He defined mechanics as the science of overcoming greater forces with smaller ones. On the first day of dialogue, he offers geometrical foundations for the Pseudo-Aristotelian '' Mechanical Problems'', establishing the principle that the further a weight is from the centre of a pivoting lever, the less force is required to move it in a circular motion. He used geometry and angles of force to discuss and solve mechanical problems. He thereby sought to relate motion to mathematical laws, though he did not envision mathematics as a universal science of motion. The second day discusses problems of natural philosophy, especially the acceleration of falling bodies.

Other works

Moletti was a prolific writer, though many of his writings remained unpublished. He lived in the generation before Galileo and anticipated Galileo's experiments that heavy bodies of different weights fell at the same rate. Also that “what makes a body hard to move also makes it hard to stop”, which is related to its mass, and to what later became the law of inertia. He also wrote a book of astronomical tables, another on mathematical certainty, and a work on reform of the calendar. His unpublished notes contain commentaries on Euclid's ''Elements'', Archimedes’ ''Sphere and Cylinder'', Alhazen's ''Optics'', Sacrobosco's ''Tractatus de Sphaera'', ''Mechanical Problems'' and Copernicus' ''De revolutionibus''. He was also working on an introduction to astrology, and on the celestial spheres. His practical papers include notes on an instrument for measuring distance, a horologium, on fortifications and on practical perspective.Introduction, ''The Unfinished Mechanics of Giuseppe Moletti...'' by W.R. Laird * *

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* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Moletti, Gius 16th-century Italian mathematicians 1531 births 1588 deaths Gregorian calendar