Anthony van Dyck- Portret van pater Jan-Karel Della Faille s

Jean-Charles della Faille (

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

: Jan-Karel della Faille,

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

: Juan Carlos della Faille), born in Antwerp, 1 March 1597 and died in

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

, 4 November 1652, was a Flemish Jesuit priest from Brabant, and a

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 ...

of repute. Faille, Jean Charles de la – Theoremata de centro gravitatis partium circulis et ellipsis, 1632 – BEIC 177030

He was born in Antwerp, part of the

Spanish Empire The Spanish Empire ( es, link=no, Imperio español), also known as the Hispanic Monarchy ( es, link=no, Monarquía Hispánica) or the Catholic Monarchy ( es, link=no, Monarquía Católica) was a colonial empire governed by Spain and its prede ...

at that time. He was educated at the Jesuit school founded by François d'Aguilon, and joined the Jesuit order in 1613. He then went to a Jesuit college in Mechelen for two years. Afterwards, he came back to Antwerp where, as one of the best Mathematics' students of

Grégoire de Saint-Vincent Grégoire de Saint-Vincent - in latin : Gregorius a Sancto Vincentio, in dutch : Gregorius van St-Vincent - (8 September 1584 Bruges – 5 June 1667 Ghent) was a Flemish Jesuit and mathematician. He is remembered for his work on quadrature of th ...

, he became also his disciple. In 1620, he went to

Dole Dole may refer to: Places * Dole, Ceredigion, Wales * Dole, Idrija, Slovenia * Dole, Jura, France ** Arrondissement of Dole * Dole (Kladanj), a village at the entity line of Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina-Republika Srpska * Dole, Ljubušk ...

, also part of the

, to teach mathematics and learn

theology Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the ...

in view of being ordained to the priesthood. The ordination took place 10 April 1621. From 1626 to 1628, he taught mathematics at the Jesuit scholasticate of Louvain, before being appointed to the Imperial College in

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the Largest cities of the Europ ...

. He there advised Philip IV, king of

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

, on military questions, specially

fortification A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere' ...

s, and taught mathematics as well. His most famous book is ''Theoremata de centro gravitatis partium circuli et ellipsis'' (1632) in which he determined the

centre of gravity In physics, the center of mass of a distribution of mass in space (sometimes referred to as the balance point) is the unique point where the weighted relative position of the distributed mass sums to zero. This is the point to which a force ma ...

of the sector of a circle, for the first time. At the request of della Faille's family, the Flemish painter Anthony van Dyck painted a portrait of the mathematician in 1629. The portrait shows the mathematician in his Jesuit outfit with a set of tools (including a compass,The compass in the painting is the model of compass developed earlier by another mathematician established in Antwerpen,

Michiel Coignet Michiel Coignet (also Quignet, Cognet or Connette in Italian) (1549 in Antwerp – 24 December 1623 in Antwerp) was a Flemish polymath who made significant contributions to various disciplines including cosmography, mathematics, navigation and c ...

. Several of these compasses are on display in the "Ciencias Nauticas" Room of the Madrid Naval Museum. a t-square and a globe). He died in

, aged 55.

References

The Mac Tutor History of Mathematics

Portrait of Jan-Karel della Faille by Anthony van Dyck

External links

* 1597 births 1652 deaths Engineers of the Spanish Netherlands Catholic clergy scientists Clergy from Antwerp Jesuit scientists Mathematicians of the Spanish Netherlands Jesuits of the Spanish Netherlands Engineers from Antwerp {{europe-mathematician-stub

See also

References

External links