Marino Ghetaldi | |
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Born | 2 October 1568 Dubrovnik, Republic of Ragusa (modern Croatia) |
Died |
11 April 1626 (aged 57) Dubrovnik, Republic of Ragusa (modern Croatia)Dubrovnik, Republic of Ragusa |
Occupation | mathematician, physicist, |
11 April 1626 (aged 57)
Marino Ghetaldi (Latin: Marinus Ghetaldus; Croatian: Marin Getaldić; 2 October 1568 – 11 April 1626) was a Ragusan scientist. A mathematician and physicist who studied in Italy, England and Belgium, his best results are mainly in physics, especially optics, and mathematics. He was one of the few students of François Viète.
Born into the Ghetaldi noble family, he was one of six children. He was known for the application of algebra in geometry and his research in the field of geometrical optics on which he wrote 7 works including the Promotus Archimedus (1603) and the De resolutione et compositione mathematica (1630). He also produced a leaflet with the solutions of 42 geometrical problems, Variorum problematum colletio, in 1607 and set grounds of algebraization of geometry. His contributions to geometry had been cited by Dutch physicist Christiaan Huygens and Edmond Halley, who calculated the orbit of what is known as Halley's comet, in England.
Ghetaldi was the constructor of the parabolic mirror (66 cm in diameter), kept today at the National Maritime Museum in London. He was also a pioneer in making conic lenses. During his sejourn in Padua he met Galileo Galilei, with whom he corresponded regularly. He was a good friend to the French mathematician François Viète. He was offered the post of professor of mathematics in Leuven in Belgium, at the time one of the most prestigious university centers in Europe.