opuscula mathematica nunc primum lucem von maurolico francesco (1 Ergebnisse)

First edition. "ONE OF THE FOREMOST MATHEMATICIANS OF THE 16TH CENTURY". First and only edition, rare, and with a distinguished provenance, containing seven 'opuscula,' and, with separate title and pagination, the Arithmeticorum libri duo; all of these works were published here for the first time. One of the 'opuscula' contains the most important original work on conic sections published in the sixteenth century; the Arithmeticorum includes the first published use of mathematical induction. "Francesco Maurolico is generally recognized to have been one of the foremost mathematicians of the sixteenth century" (Rosen). Cajori has called him "the greatest geometer of the sixteenth century", although many of his works remain unpublished even today. "The greatest number of Maurolico's mathematical writings are gathered in the Opuscula mathematica; indeed, the second volume of that work, Arithmeticorum libri duo, is wholly devoted to that subject and contains, among other things, some notable research on the theory of numbers. This includes, in particular, a treatment of polygonal numbers that is more complete than that of Diophantus, to which Maurolico added a number of simple and ingenious proofs. L. E. Dickson has remarked upon Maurolico's argument that every perfect number in hexagonal, and therefore traingular, while Baldassarre Boncompagni noted his proof of a peculiarity of the succession of odd numbers Among the topics related to mathematics in the Opuscula are chronology (the treatise 'Computus ecclesiasticus') and gnomonics (in two treatises, both entitled 'De lineis horariis,' one of which also discusses conics). The work also contains writing on Euclid's Elements Of particular interest, too is a passage on a correlation between regular polyhedrons, which was commented upon by J.H.T. Müller, and later by Moritz Cantor" (DSB IX, 191). Referring to the second of the horological works, Rose (p. 176) remarks that "Apart from Werner's Libellus of 1522, the 'Libri tres' is the first original European treatise on conic sections. It is of greater significance than Werner's book and had a wide influence in the sixteenth century" (Rose, p. 176). Several of the results on polygonal and square numbers in the Arithmeticorum are proved by making use of the principle of mathematical induction (e.g. Book I, Proposition 15), the first time this principle had been clearly stated in print. The manuscript of the book was sent to the bookseller Giovanni Comisino in Venice in 1569, but the book was not in press until November 1574. Even then there were further delays, and the book was not finally published until 26 July 1575, four days after Maurolico's death. Some bibliographies mention editions of 1574, 1580 and 1585, but in 'The Editions of Maurolico's mathematical works' (Scripta Mathematica 24 (1959), pp. 59-76), Edward Rosen has shown that there was only one edition of the Opuscula and its 'companion piece' the Arithmeticorum (though one or two of the works were reprinted separately later). Only two copies (one in a modern binding) have sold at auction since the Macclesfield copy in 2005. Provenance: Heinrich Christian Schumacher (1780-1850), German astronomer (name on title verso). Maurolico's family came from Greece, from which they had fled to Sicily to escape the Turks. Maurolico learned Greek, as well as astronomy, from his father. In 1521 he was ordained priest, and in 1550 the governor of Messina conferred upon Maurolico the abbey of Santa Maia del Parto. Maurolico also held a number of civil commissions in Messina, and like his father became master of the Messina mint. Most importantly, he gave public lectures on mathematics at the University of Messina, where he was appointed professor in 1569. "In 1569 the outlook for the publication of Maurolico's works improved with his appointment as lecturer in mathematics at the Jesuit University of Messina. This new educational affiliation inspired Maurolico to attempt again to publish new textbooks on astronomy which would replace Scarobosco in the universities. With the encouragement of his friends, Maurolico wrote to the Jesuit General Francesco Borgia on 16 April 1569, pointing out the need for such compendia and asking for help with their publication. The General's reply was favourable: if Maurolico would send his books to Rome, the Order would immediately forward them to a printer in Venice. To help Maurolico with his preparation of the compendia, Juan Marques, a young Jesuit, was sent to Sicily in 1570, followed by the Jesuit mathematician Christopher Clavius in April 1574. Maurolico and Clavius had apparently been long in contact with one another, and the Jesuit seems to have derived some benefit from Maurolico's studies. Thus, some of Maurolico's proofs are used in the Clavius Euclid (Rome, 1574) and Clavius in his Gnomonices libri octo (Rome, 1581) thanks his friend for sending him the autograph manuscript of De lineis horariis [which was published in the Opuscula] After lecturing on the fifth and sixth books of Euclid at Messina, Clavius returned to Rome in September, 1574, taking with him the autograph manuscripts of the Photismi and Diaphana [eventually published in 1611 and 1613] In the meantime, Mauurolico had given a collection of other works to the bookseller Giovanni Comenzino to take to Venice, where indeed they were published in August 1575, a few weeks after the author's death (21 or 22 July 1575). "The publication (which was dedicated by the printer to Commandino's patron, the Duke of Urbino), consists of two separate volumes. The first of these is the Opuscula Mathematica which comprises several works of Maurolico. It includes a De Sphaera Liber Unus [pp. 1-26] wherein Maurolico makes his notorious remark that Copernicus is so incorrigible in his errors that he is more deserving of a whipping than a reprimand [p. 26]. The remark is certainly unfortunate, particularly as its context puts Copernicus in the same group of 'ignoramuses' as.