Guidobaldo del Monte

Guidobaldo del Monte (1545 to 1607), Marquis del Monte, was an Italian mathematician, philosopher and astronomer of the sixteenth century, born in Pesaro into a noble family that served the Dukes of Urbino. He studied mathematics at the University of Padua in 1564, served briefly as a soldier in the Habsburg war against the Ottomans, and then retired to his estate at Mombaroccio in the Marche to research mathematics, mechanics, astronomy and optics. He was one of the most loyal pupils of Federico Commandino and corresponded with Galileo Galilei and other mathematicians. He invented a drafting instrument for constructing regular polygons and dividing a line into equal parts, which became a feature of Galileo geometric and military compass, and he helped Galileo win his first chairs at Pisa and Padua by recommending him to powerful patrons.