Domenico Guglielmini
Lithography of Domenico Guglielmini (1821)
Born(1655-09-27)27 September 1655
Died27 July 1710(1710-07-27) (aged 54)
Resting placeSan Massimo (Padua)
NationalityItalian
Alma materUniversity of Bologna
SpouseCostanza Gioannetti
Parent(s)Giulio Guglielmini and Gentile Guglielmini (née Neri)
Scientific career
Fields
Institutions
Incipit della Natura dei fiumi

Domenico Guglielmini (Bologna, 27 September 1655 - Padua, 27 July 1710) was an Italian mathematician, chemist and physician, active and successful mainly in Bologna and Padua.[1][2]

Life

Born in Bologna to a well-off family, he graduated in medicine in 1678 with Marcello Malpighi at the University of Bologna, at the same time he studied mathematics with Geminiano Montanari and became a member of the Academia della Traccia o dei Filosofi.[3]

His first mathematical writing topic was astronomy, but later he focused his studies on hydraulics. In 1686 he was named "Bologna General Water Administrator", an important role due to the large number of watercourses existing in the area and the frequent flooding that required surveillance. The experience gave inspiration for his well-known work "Della natura dei fiumi" which is considered a masterpiece of modern river hydraulics.[4]

He married Costanza Gioannetti and had three daughters and a son, Giuseppe Ferdinando, who became his biographer. In 1690 he was appointed professor of mathematics at the University of Bologna and in 1694 professor of Hydrometry.

In 1698 he was invited by the prestigious University of Padua to teach mathematics, astronomy and medicine and to collaborate in the restoration of the fortifications of Kotor in Dalmatia (today Montenegro).[5]

He died in 1709 after eight months of agony for a cerebral haemorrhage. He was buried in the church of St. Massimo in Padua and a sumptuous monument was erected in the Basilica of Saint Anthony of Padua.

Works

Hydraulics

Fig. 1. Illustration to the review about Natura dei fiumi, published on Acta Eruditorum in 1742

Chemistry and crystallography

Medicine

Physics and astronomy

References

Notes

Bibliography

  • Eustachio Manfredi, "Vita di Domenico Guglielmini" nella Prefazione a Della natura de' fiumi trattato fisico matematico di Domenico Guglielmini con le annotazioni di Eustachio Manfredi, Bologna: tipografia Marsigli, 1821, pp. VII-XXXVI [1] Archived 2021-03-09 at the Wayback Machine.
  • Icilio Guareschi, Domenico Guglielmini e la sua opera scientifica, Estratto dal Supplemento annuale all'Enciclopedia di Chimica, diretta dal Prof. Icilio Guareschi, vol. XXX, Torino: Unione Tipografico Editrice Torinese, 1914 [2][permanent dead link].
  • Hooykaas, Reijer (1953). "Domenico Guglielmini et le développement de la cristallographie". Atti della Fondazione Ronchi. VIII: 5–20.
  • Maffioli, Cesare F. (1984). "Guglielmini vs. Papin (1691-1697)". Janus. LXXI: 63–105.
  • Cavazza, Marta (1987). "La corrispondenza inedita tra Leibniz, Domenico Guglielmini, Gabriele Manfredi". Rapporti di scienziati europei con lo Studio bolognese. Studi e memorie per la storia dell'Università di Bologna. VI: 51–79.
  • Maffioli, Cesare F. (1987). "Domenico Guglielmini, Geminiano Rondelli e la nuova cattedra d'idrometria nello Studio di Bologna (1694)". Rapporti di scienziati europei con lo Studio bolognese. Studi e memorie per la storia dell'Università di Bologna. VI: 81–124.
  • Cesare F. Maffioli, "Domenico Guglielmini", in Professori e scienziati a Padova nel Settecento, a cura di Sandra Casellato e Luciana Sitran Rea, Treviso: Antilia, 2002, pp. 505–530.
  • Alberto Vanzo, "Corpuscularism and Experimental Philosophy in Domenico Guglielmini's Reflections on Salts", in The Idea of Principles in Early Modern Thought. Interdisciplinary Perspectives, a cura di Peter Anstey, New York: Routledge, 2017, pp. 147–171. [3].
  • Capoccia, Anna Rita (2003). "GUGLIELMINI, Domenico". Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani, Volume 60: Grosso–Guglielmo da Forli (in Italian). Rome: Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana. ISBN 978-8-81200032-6.