Pietro Mengoli

Pietro Mengoli (* 1626 in Bologna ; † June 7, 1686 ibid) was an Italian mathematician and clergyman. He studied at the University of Bologna under Bonaventura Cavalieri , was his successor in 1647 and taught as a professor until the end of his life.

At the University of Bologna he was professor of arithmetic from 1648 and 1649, then from 1649 to 1668 for mechanics and finally mathematics in general until the end of his life. In addition to his mathematical studies, Mengoli earned a doctorate in philosophy in 1650 and a doctorate in law three years later. The reception of his work was made difficult by his idiosyncratic use of Latin.

Pietro Mengoli

In 1644 Mengoli was the first to formulate the Basel problem , which was solved by Leonhard Euler in 1735 .

Mengoli proved in an essay from 1650 that the alternating harmonic series has the limit ln (2).

He also proved that the harmonic series diverges, and formulated a proof for the correctness of the Wallis product for the calculation of the circle number . ${\displaystyle \pi }$

In 1659 Mengoli published the text Geometriae speciosae elementa , which was a suggestion for the Acta Eruditorum published in 1684 by Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz .

One of the first mathematicians to reevaluate Mengoli's role in the history of analysis was Giovanni Vacca .

Publications accessible on the web

Novae quadraturae arithmeticae , 1650

• Geometriae speciosae elementa , Bologne, 1659 (alsoavailable here ).
• Speculationi di Musica , Bologna, 1670.
• Arithmeticae rationalis elementa equator , Bologna, 1674.
• Arithmetica realis, serenissimo et reverendissimo principi Leopoldo from Etrvria cardinali Medices dicata a Petro Mengolo , Bologna, 1675.

Remarks

1. ^ Joseph Ehrenfried Hofmann , History of Mathematics

Web links

• John J. O'Connor, Edmund F. Robertson :  Pietro Mengoli. In: MacTutor History of Mathematics archive .
• Heinz Klaus Strick: Pietro Mengoli (1626–1686): Beyond Infinity , 2020.