Raffaello Magiotti

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Raffaello Magiotti (born September 5, 1597 in Montevarchi ( Province of Arezzo , Tuscany), † 1656 in Rome ) was an Italian physicist , mathematician and astronomer , who is best known for describing the incompressibility of water.

Cover sheet of "Renitenza certissima dell'acqua alla compressione"

He studied in Florence and entered the Order of Santa Lucia della Chiavica . Around 1630 he moved to Rome at the invitation of Cardinal Sacchetti , where he soon became known as a scholar in mathematics, medicine, theology and literature. In 1636 he received a prestigious position as " scrittore " in the Vatican library . He did not accept Galileo Galileo's and Benedetto Castelli's proposal for the chair of mathematics at the University of Pisa in order not to leave the intellectually stimulating Roman society. Magiotti took an active part in the scientific debates in Rome, about which he reported in detail to Galileo , with whom he was often in contact.

Magiotti played a particularly important role in the research that preceded Torricelli's barometer experiments and, to a large extent, paved the way for them. He supported the Heber experiments of Gasparo Berti (* around 1600, † 1643) around 1640 by writing detailed descriptions in various letters. In a letter to Mersenne dated 1648, he described this period of experimentation, and revealed that he had informed Torricelli of Berti's experiments. He also suggested the use of sea water, which is denser than fresh water, pioneering the important use of mercury in Torricelli's later barometric experiments.

Magiotti published only one book, entitled " Renitenza certissima dell'acqua alla compressione " (The resistance of water to compression), which came out in 1648. It was the first report of the incompressibility of water, which Magiotti wrongly considered to be absolute, as well as the expansion and contraction of liquids and gases (water and air) that are subject to changes in temperature. In addition to the description of various thermometers , the book also contains an illustration of the Cartesian diver (bottle diver , Cartesian devil), whose discovery is therefore attributed to the Tuscan scientist and not Descartes , after whom he is named.

In 1656 Magiotti died of the plague. Two years later, Giovanni Alfonso Borelli, on behalf of Leopoldo de Medici , tried to secure Magiotti's unpublished manuscripts, but found that his house had been looted and the writings lost.

Francesco Redi , whom he met in 1650, said of him: "Magiotti is a great sage and I try to be with him whenever I can because I learn something nice from him every time."

Web links

Commons : Raffaello Magiotti  - collection of images, videos and audio files
  • Raffaello Magiotti: Renitenza certissima dell'acqua alla compressione . Francesco Moneta, Rome 1648 (Italian, fi.it - digitized version in the Museo Galileo).
  • Paul Lawrence Rose: Magiotti, Raffaello. In: Complete Dictionary of Scientific Biography, Charles Scribner's Sons. 2008 (English).;
  • Richard S. Westfall: Magiotti, Raffaello. In: The Galileo Project. Rice University;
  • Raffaello Magiotti. Institute and Museum of History of Science, Florence(English).;
  • Walter Bernardi: Raffaello Magiotti (short biography). In: Francesco Redi: Scienziato e poeta alla Corte dei Medici. (Italian).

Individual evidence

  1. ^ " L Magiotti è un gran dotto uomo, ed io procuro di stargli attorno più che posso, perché semper imparo da lui qualche bella cosa ", quoted in Walter Bernardi: Francesco Redi: Scienziato e poeta alla Corte dei Medici .