Evangelista Torricelli

Evangelista Torricelli
Evangelista Torricelli portrayed on the frontpage of Lezioni d'Evangelista Torricelli
Born	15 October 1608 Rome, Papal States
Died	25 October 1647 (aged 39) Florence, Grand Duchy of Tuscany
Citizenship	Papal States
Fields	Physicist, mathematician
Academic advisors	Benedetto Castelli
Notable students	Vincenzo Viviani
Known for	Barometer Torricelli's Law
Influences	Galileo Galilei

Evangelista Torricelli (Italian: [evandʒeˈlista torriˈtʃɛlli]  listen ); 15 October 1608 – 25 October 1647) was an Italian physicist and mathematician, best known for his invention of the barometer, but is also known for his advances in optics and work on the method of indivisibles.

Evangelista Torricelli was born on 15 October 1608 in Rome, he invented the barometer in Florence, Italy. The firstborn child of Gaspare Ruberti and Giacoma (Jacoba) Torricelli. His family was from Faenza in the Province of Ravenna, then part of the Papal States. His father was a textile worker and the family was very poor. Seeing his talents, his parents sent him to be educated in Faenza, under the care of his uncle, Jacobo, a Camaldolese monk, who first ensured that his nephew was given a sound basic education. He then entered young Torricelli into a Jesuit College in 1624, possibly the one in Faenza itself, to study mathematics and philosophy until 1626, by which time his father, Gaspare, had died. The uncle then sent Torricelli to Rome to study science under the Benedictine monk Benedetto Castelli, professor of mathematics at the Collegio della Sapienza (now known as the Sapienza University of Rome). Castelli was a student of Galileo Galilei. "Benedetto Castelli made experiments on running water (1628), and he was entrusted by Pope Urban VIII with hydraulic undertakings." There is no actual evidence that Torricelli was enrolled at the university. It is almost certain that Torricelli was taught by Castelli. In exchange he worked for him as his secretary from 1626 to 1632 as a private arrangement. Because of this, Torricelli was exposed to experiments funded by Pope Urban VIII. While living in Rome, Torricelli became also the student of the brilliant mathematician, Bonaventura Cavalieri, with whom he became great friends.