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Marin
Getaldić
(Ghetaldus)
was born in 1568 in the noble
Dubrovnik's
family that had 6 children. Historicist assumed, due to one of his
sisters joining convent in maturity age, that family's noble
background didn't correspondent their bad financial position.
Nevertheless, Gundulić received exceptional education in Dubrovnik.
Many of his tutors were respectable humanists and poets of the time.
After finishing Gymnasium and before setting of abroad he stayed for
2 years in Dubrovnik, mingling with the educated and noble
Dubrovnikans and expanding his knowledge in the filed of mathematics
and astrology.
Inheriting
considerable property from a wealthy nobleman living in London,
Getaldić spent six years travelling in Europe. During his sojourn in
England, Belgium, France and Italy he had productive meetings with
several great scientists (Christoph Clavius, Michel Coignet at
Antwerp, Francois Viete in Paris, Christoph Grienberger and Galileo
Galilei in Padua). Later, from his Dubrovnik seclusion, he
corresponded with some of the great mathematicians and physicists of
his epoch (Christoph Clavius, Christoph Grienberger, Galileo Galilei
and Karl Guldin).
In Paris he assisted great mathematician Viete,
with whom he corresponded regularly, by helping him to edit and
print his unfinished works and the fact that the post of professor
of mathematics had been offered to him in Louvain in Belgium, at
that time one of the most famous university centers in Europe,
proves his high scientific reputation.
Several important works of his were printed in
Rome
in 1603, such as Nonnulae propositiones de parabola and
Archimedes Promotus, but apperantly Getaldić got into some
trouble and was forced to flee the City.
Getaldić returned to Dubrovnik and had to earn his living as a
notary and public servant. In his letters to his contemporaries
elsewhere, he complained about his government's negligence
concerning the progress of basic theoretical disciplines.
In a large cave (later named after Getaldić’s nickname, Bete’s
Cave), above which was placed his family’s house, he performed
experiments with parabolic mirrors, destroying metals from a large
distance. Traditions tell us that he succeeded in setting fire to
ships that were far away at the sea. Among his historic achievements
in his pioneer use of some sort of hydrostatic scales for scientific
purpose,
are his
calculations on the relative weight of eleven matters: gold,
mercury, lead, silver, copper, tin, honey, wine, wax and oil.
Between 1603 and 1607, he published five works.
One of his most important treaties De resolutione et
compositionem mathematica
was published
in 1630
after his death.
Getaldić also took part in diplomatic missions or the Republic. As
an envoy he traveled to Constantinople, entrusted with the annual
tribute to the Turks.
He
was married to Anica Sorkočević who unfortunately died having a
birth to their third daughter; allegedly that struck him a lot.
His
interest in constructing igniting mirrors, latter led him towards
mathematical research of the properties of parabolas. At the end of
his life the study of the triangle inspired him to conceive a method
to determine the diameter of the earth, but death did not allow him
to test the validity of his theory. He died in Dubrovnik in 1624.
A
Venetian
scholar
Paolo Scarpi wrote about him:
In mathematics he was like a demon, and in his heart - like an
angel. |
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