Evangelista Torricelli

Evangelista Torricelli, (1608—1647), Italian physicist and mathematician, was born at Faenza[?] on October 15, 1608. Left fatherless at an early age, he was educated under the care of his uncle, a Camaldolese monk, who in 1627 sent him to Rome to study science under the Benedictine Benedetto Castelli[?] (1577—1644), professor of mathematics at the Collegio di Sapienza[?]. The perusal of Galileo's Dialoghi delle nuove scienze (1638) inspired him with many developments of the mechanical principles there set forth, which he embodied in a treatise De motu (printed amongst his Opera geometrica, 1644). Its communication by Castelli to Galileo in 1641, with a proposal that Torricelli should reside with him, led to Torricelli repairing to Florence, where he met Galileo, and acted as his amanuensis during the three remaining months of his life. After Galileo's death Torricelli was nominated grand-ducal mathematician and professor of mathematics in the Florentine academy[?]. The discovery of the principle of the barometer which has perpetuated his fame ("Torricellian tube", "Torricellian vacuum") was made in 1643.

The torr, a unit of pressure is named after him.

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The original text for this article was based on the 1911 Encyclopaedia Britannica.