Frontispiece to Niccolo Tartaglia, Nova Scientia, 1537

Frontispiece to Niccolo Tartaglia, Nova Scientia (New Science), a treatise on gunnery, is an important pioneering effort to establish the laws of falling bodies, 1537. Niccolo Fontana Tartaglia (1499- 1557) was an Italian mathematician, engineer, surveyor and translator. He published many books, including the first Italian translations of Archimedes and Euclid, and an acclaimed compilation of mathematics. Tartaglia was the first to apply mathematics to the investigation of the paths of cannonballs. His work was later validated by Galileo's studies on falling bodies. The caption reads: One of the most famous allegorical frontispieces of Renaissance science. Euclid greets the students at the outer gate of the circle of knowledge, in which tartaglia is surrounded by the mathematical disciples of arithmetic, geometry, music, astronomy, astrology, etc. The fired cannon and mortar show the trajectories defined by Tartaglia. On the throne in the farther circle sits philosophy. Beneath the scroll in Plato's hand, which reads None not expert in geometry may enter here. Aristotle moves forward to welcome the students

Picture No

10801308

Media ID

47607281

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2784px x 3951px (5.0MB)

Credit

©Photo Researchers / Mary Evans Picture Library

Source

Photo Researchers