Bombelli, Rafael

1. Dates

Born: Bologna, January, 1526

Died: Rome?, 1572

Dateinfo: Dates Certain

Lifespan: 46

2. Father

Occupation: Merchant

Antonio Bombelli was a wool merchant. Fantuzzi says that Bombelli was born to a noble family, but I think that is just conventional talk. None of the other sources bear that out.

No information on financial status.

3. Nationality

Birth: Bologna, Italy

Career: Italy

Death: Rome? Italy

4. Education

Schooling: No University

All that is known about Bomelli's education is that his teacher was Pier Francesco Clementi of Corinaldo, an engineer-architect, who drained swamps.

5. Religion

Affiliation: Catholic

6. Scientific Disciplines

Primary: Mathematics

Bombelli was the last of the algebraists of Renaissance Italy. His only published work, Algebra, gave a comprehensive account of the existing knowledge of the subject, enriching it with Bombelli's own contributions. The influence that his Algebra had in the Low Countries was great. Leibniz called him an "outstanding master of the analytical art."

Bombelli worked at reclaiming land and at least one other engineering task, but there is nothing to indicate that he furthered the sciences of hydraulics and engineering.

7. Means of Support

Primary: Patronage

He spent the greater part of his working life as an engineer-architect in the service of his patron, Monsignor Alessandro Rufini, a favorite of Paul III who was later the Bishop of Melfi. By 1551 Bombelli had begun to work for Rufini in the reclamation of the Val di Chiana marshes; the work ended in 1560. In 1561 he took part in the attempt to repair the Ponte Santa Maria in Rome, an effort that failed.

8. Patronage

Type: Eccesiastic Official

His patron was Monsignor Alessandro Rufini, a Roman nobleman and bishop of Melfi. Bombelli dedicated his Algebra to Rufini.

9. Technological Involvement

Types: Hydraulics, Civil Engineering

He took part in the reclamation of the Val di Chiana marshes and in the attempt to repair the Ponte Santa Maria Bridge.

10. Scientific Societies

Memberships: None

Sources

1. S. A. Jayawardene, "Unpublished Documents Relating to Rafael Bombelli in the Archives of Bologna" in Isis, 54 (1963), pp.391-395 Jayawardene, "Rafael Bombelli, Engineer-Architect: Some Unpublished Documents of the Apostolic Camera," Isis, 56 (1965), pp.298-306.
2. Dizionario biografico degli italiani.
3. G.M. Mazzuchelli, Gli scrittori d'Italia, (Brescia, 1753- ), 2, pt. 3, 1509.
4. G. Fantuzzi, Notizie degli scrittori bolognesi, (Bologna, 1781- 94), 2, 282-3. Paul L. Rose, The Italian Renaissance of Mathematics, (Geneva, 1975), pp. 146-8.

Not Available and Not Consulted

1. Bortolotti, Archiv für Geschichte der Mathematik, 11, 470.

Compiled by:

Richard S. Westfall

Department of History and Philosophy of Science

Indiana University

Note: the creators of the Galileo Project and this catalogue cannot answer email on geneological questions.