Gasparo berti biography sample

  • Berti seems to have been a native of Mantua who spent most of his life in Rome.
  • In Rome, an amateur scientist named Gasparo Berti set up a series of experiments to study this curious phenomenon in detail.
  • A vacuum is a key component of the barometer an instrument for measuring air pressure and because air pressure correlates to temperature.

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    A Brief History of Vacuum Technology

    Early History

    The history of vacuum technology is a fascinating one.It seems to have begun in ancient Greece when the philosopher Democritus (circa 460 to 375 B.C.) proposed that the world was made up of tiny particles that he calledatoms (atomos, Greek: undividable). Democritus’ belief was that empty space (in other words, in modern terminology, a vacuum) existed between the atoms, which moved according to the general laws of mechanics. Democritus, together with his teacher Leucippus, may indeed be considered as the inventors of the concept of a vacuum and our modern view of physics is heavily influenced by their ideas.

    However, it was the thinking of Aristotle (384 – 322 B.C.) that dominated the scientific community up until the 16th century. Aristotle denied the existence of a vacuum as it conflicted with the idea that the universe was comprised of countless individual particles. According to Aristotle, nature

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    The peak of the Puy de Dôme in central France (wikipedia.fr)
    November days can be depressing, when thick fog is hanging in town for days and there is no real daylight. Here in Frankfurt, one can at least try to escape, and with some luck, the top of the Feldbergis above the mist, and in the sun. November 1647 in Paris may have been similar gloomy, and made Blaise Pascaldaydream of the mountain peaks around Clermont-Ferrand, a town in provincial Auvergne where he had been born in 1623 and grown up, and where his sister and her husband Florin Périer still were living.

    What is known for sure, however, is that in that fall, Pascal had the idea for an experiment that, simple as it may be, nevertheless revolutionised our knowledge about the atmosphere and atmospheric pressure. So, on November 15, he sat down and wrote a long letter to his brother-in-law to persuade him to conduct this experiment. It was nothing for an armchair scientist, however, since it involved ascending
  • gasparo berti biography sample

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    Berti Gasparo

    (b. Mantua [?], Italy, ca. 1600; d. Rome, Italy, 1643)

    physics astronomy

    Berti seems to have been a native of Mantua who spent most of his life in Rome. He was first mentioned (under the name of Alberti) as a distinguished mathematician who about 1629 collaborated with Francesco Contini in the mapping of the långnovell catacombs. Berti’s friendship with Luc Holste, Athanasius Kircher, and Rafaello Magiotti suggests that he was born about 1600. In 1636, Holste described him to Nicholas Peiresc as an expert in mathematics and in the construction of mathematical instruments. About the same time, Berti’s observations of an eclipse came to the attention of Pierre Gassendi, who spoke of him as ung, industrious, and erudite. Berti also refined the earlier observations of Christopher Clavius in beställning to determine the precise latitude of Rome; this he communicated to the English geographer John Greaves, who called him a celebrated astronomer. In July 1638, Magiotti infor