Evangelista Torricelli

15 October 1608 – 25 October 1647

Evangelista Torricelli was an Italian physicist and mathematician, a student of Galileo, who invented the mercury barometer in 1643 and provided the first sustained artificial vacuum. The torr, a unit of pressure, is named after him.

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Life events

Born in Rome
15 October 1608

Torricelli was born into a poor family; his father was a textile worker, and the boy was entrusted to his uncle, a monk, for his education.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
Birth ✓
Studied mathematics and science under Benedetto Castelli in Rome
c. 1626 – c. 1632

Torricelli studied under Benedetto Castelli, a pupil of Galileo, serving as his secretary and mastering the new Galilean science.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
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Wrote De motu gravium developing Galileo's mechanics
1641

Torricelli's treatise on the motion of projectiles extended Galileo's work on falling bodies and brought him to Galileo's attention.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
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Became Galileo's assistant in Arcetri
October 1641 – 8 January 1642

Torricelli moved to Florence to serve as secretary and assistant to the aged, blind Galileo during the last three months of Galileo's life.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
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Appointed grand-ducal mathematician of Tuscany
1642 – 1647

After Galileo's death, Torricelli succeeded him as mathematician to Grand Duke Ferdinando II and held the chair of mathematics in Florence.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
Career ✓
Invented the mercury barometer
1643

Torricelli filled a glass tube with mercury and inverted it in a basin, creating the first sustained vacuum and demonstrating that air has weight.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
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Formulated Torricelli's law on the speed of efflux
c. 1643

Torricelli showed that the speed of fluid flowing from an opening in a vessel is proportional to the square root of the height of fluid above it.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
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Published Opera geometrica
1644

Torricelli's collected mathematical works on geometry, the parabola, and motion established his reputation across Europe.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
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Died in Florence, probably of typhoid fever
25 October 1647

Torricelli died in Florence at the age of 39, a few days after contracting an illness believed to have been typhoid fever.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
Death ✓