Angeli, Stefano degli

1. Dates

Born: Venice, 21 Sept. 1623

Died: Venice, 11 Oct. 1697

Dateinfo: Dates Certain

Lifespan: 74

2. Father

Occupation: No Information

No information on financial status.

3. Nationality

Birth: Venice,Italy

Career: Italy

Death: Venice, Italy

4. Education

Schooling: Bologna

Studied mathematics in the University of Bologna.

The fact is, I find no mention of a degree.

5. Religion

Affiliation: Catholic

Angeli entered the Order of the Jesuates of Saint Jerome. After the Jesuates were suppressed in 1668, he became a secular priest.

6. Scientific Disciplines

Primary: Math., Mechanics, Physics

Works: De infinitorum spiralium spatiorum mensura, (Venice, 1660).

De infinitorum cochlearum, (Venice, 1661).

De infinitorum parabolis, (Venice, 1654).

Della gravita dell aria e fluidi, (Padua, 1671-2).

And quite a bit more mathematics.

In a series of dialogues, Angeli considered the motions of falling bodies on a turning earth--in polemics with Borelli and Riccioli.

7. Means of Support

Primary: Academia, Church Life

Reader of literature, philosophy and theology in the faculty of his order at Ferrara, 1644. He was transferred to Bologna in 1645, and here he was influenced by Cavalieri.

He was Rector of a Jesuate house in Rome, 1647-52.

Prior of the monastery of the Jesuates in Venice, and then for a time provincial definer (whatever that may have been), 1652-1668.

Professor of mathematics at University of Padua, 1662- 1697.

8. Patronage

Types: Aristrocrat, Eccesiastic Official, City Magistrate, Court Official

In about 1660, when Angeli was seeking the chair in Padua, he dedicated one book to the Riformatori of the university, and another (De infinitorum spatiorum mensura) to Card. Barbarigo, a Venetian patrician influential with the Riformatori. He got the appointment in 1662.

In 1659 he dedicated a book of mathematics to the Senate of Bologna.

In 1661 he dedicated a book to the Grand Duke of Tuscany and apparently to his brother Leopold. Angeli's letters to them (published in the Michieli article) make clearer the expectations from a dedication than anything else I have seen.

9. Technological Involvement

Types: None

10. Scientific Societies

Memberships: None

He carried on an extensive correspondence that included Cavalieri, Torricelli, Viviani, Ricce, et al.

With Rizzetti, his student, he discussed the latest developments in science.

Sources

1. M.Gliozzi, "Angeli, Stefano degli" in Dizionario biografico degli Italiani, 3, Rome, 1961, pp. 205-06.
2. A. Favaro, Amici i correspondetti di Galileo, pp. 989, 1051, 1054, 1072, 1138, 1146.
3. A.A. Michieli, "Un maestro di Iacopo Riccati," Atti di Istituto veneto di scienze, lettere ed arti, 107, 2 (1948-9), 73-81.
4. G.M. Mazzuchelli, Gli scrittori d'Italia, (Brescia, 1753- ), 1, pt. 2, 740-2.

Not Available and Not Consulted

1. J.E.Montucla, Histoire des mathematiques, (Paris, 1758), I, p. 537, II, p. 69 P. Magrini, Sulla vita e sulle opere del P. Stefano degli Angeli, (Rome, 1866).
2. G. Favaro, "I successori di Galileo nello studio di Padova," Nuovo archivo veneto, n.s. 33, (1917), 117-21.

Compiled by:

Richard S. Westfall

Department of History and Philosophy of Science

Indiana University