author
Geminiano Montanari
1633–1687
A seventeenth-century Italian astronomer and lens-maker, he is best remembered for being the first European to record the changing brightness of Algol. His work blended careful observation with a strong belief that science should be grounded in experiment.
1 Audiobook
Economisti del cinque e seicento
by Geminiano Montanari, Gasparo Scaruffi, active 1613 Antonio Serra
About the author
Born in Modena on June 1, 1633, Geminiano Montanari became one of Italy's notable scientific figures of the seventeenth century. He studied law in Salzburg, but his interests reached far beyond it, and he built a career in astronomy, mathematics, optics, and natural philosophy.
Montanari worked in Florence and Modena before becoming professor of astronomy at the University of Bologna, and later professor at the University of Padua. He was known as a skilled lens-maker and an energetic supporter of experimental science at a time when careful measurement was reshaping how people understood the natural world.
Today he is especially remembered for noting the variation in the light of Algol, an early and important step in the study of variable stars. His wide-ranging curiosity also led him to write on subjects from physics to economics, showing the restless, practical intelligence that marked much of early modern science.