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The golden inheritance of Renaissance. (English) Zbl 1538.01001

Summary: Federico Commandino (1509–1575) was born into an influential family from Urbino, Italy. His family’s political connections secured him a position as the private secretary to pope Clement VII in 1534. He dedicated most of his life translating several fundamental works from ancient Greek into Latin, including Archimedes, Ptolemy, Euclid, Aristarchus, Pappus, Apollonius, Eutocius, Heron and Serenus [E. Rosen, http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G2-2830900962.html]. Most notable is his 1565 work titled “De centro gravitatis”, where an interesting novel idea is presented and explored. In this work, one particular element from Euclid’s Elements is extended to tetrahedra: the center of gravity. In our paper, we explore the heritage of his work on tetrahedra and we reflect on the educational value of this cornerstone moment in the history of geometry.

MSC:

01A40 History of mathematics in the 15th and 16th centuries, Renaissance
51-03 History of geometry

Biographic References:

Commandino, Federico
Full Text: DOI