Domenico Guglielmini

Domenico Guglielmini (1655 to 1710) was an Italian mathematician, chemist and physician, active and successful mainly in Bologna and Padua. Born in Bologna to a well-off family, he graduated in medicine in 1678 under Marcello Malpighi at the University of Bologna, studied mathematics with Geminiano Montanari, and became a member of the Academia della Traccia, the Academy of the Philosophers. His first mathematical writing was on astronomy, but he later turned to hydraulics. In 1686 he was named Bologna General Water Administrator, an important post in an area of many watercourses and frequent floods, and the experience inspired Della natura dei fiumi, considered a masterpiece of modern river hydraulics. He was elected an associated member of the French Academy of Sciences in 1686 and a fellow of the Royal Society in 1687. In 1690 he became professor of mathematics at Bologna and in 1694 professor of hydrometry, and in 1698 the University of Padua invited him to teach mathematics, astronomy and medicine and to help restore the fortifications of Kotor. His son Giuseppe Ferdinando became his biographer. He died in Padua and was buried in the church of St Massimo.