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

Padua Padua ( ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) in Veneto, northern Italy, and the capital of the province of Padua. The city lies on the banks of the river Bacchiglione, west of Venice and southeast of Vicenza, and has a population of 20 ...

n instrument maker best known for his association with

Galileo Galilei Galileo di Vincenzo Bonaiuti de' Galilei (15 February 1564 – 8 January 1642), commonly referred to as Galileo Galilei ( , , ) or mononymously as Galileo, was an Italian astronomer, physicist and engineer, sometimes described as a poly ...

, 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 (, UNIPD) is an Italian public research university in Padua, Italy. It was founded in 1222 by a group of students and teachers from the University of Bologna, who previously settled in Vicenza; thus, it is the second-oldest ...

, a position that he held for thirty-six years. Mazzoleni had been working as an instrument maker at the Arsenale in

Venice Venice ( ; ; , formerly ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 islands that are separated by expanses of open water and by canals; portions of the city are li ...

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 ( ; ) is the capital city of the Italy, Italian region of Tuscany. It is also the most populated city in Tuscany, with 362,353 inhabitants, and 989,460 in Metropolitan City of Florence, its metropolitan province as of 2025. 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 Engineers from the Republic of Venice