Marc'Antonio Mazzoleni (date of birth unknown – died 1632) was a

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 ...

n instrument maker best known for his association with

Galileo Galilei Galileo di Vincenzo Bonaiuti de' Galilei (15 February 1564 – 8 January 1642) was an Italian astronomer, physicist and engineer, sometimes described as a polymath. Commonly referred to as Galileo, his name was pronounced (, ). He was ...

, 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 B ...

, 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 ...

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 ...

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

, 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 Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico an ...

in 1610. In 1612, Mazzoleni became regulator of the clock of the University of Padua's Palazzo del Bo'. Mazzoleni died of the

plague Plague or The Plague may refer to: Agriculture, fauna, and medicine *Plague (disease), a disease caused by ''Yersinia pestis'' * An epidemic of infectious disease (medical or agricultural) * A pandemic caused by such a disease * A swarm of pes ...

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