Mathematical Treasure: Works of Bernardino Baldi

Bernardino Baldi (1553–1617) was an Italian mathematician and writer. He wrote about many subjects, including theology, mathematics, history, and geography. He studied in Urbino with Federico Commandino and Guidobaldo del Monte, and he is credited with writing the earliest biography of Nicholas Copernicus, which he published in 1588. Much of his work did not advance beyond manuscript form. One of his works in mathematics is is Cronica de Matematici, in which he examined the lives and work of mathematicians from antiquity until his time. Baldi labored on this work for over 12 years, intending to publish information on over 200 mathematicians. A posthumous 1707 printing was more limited in scope of coverage.

A manuscript copy of this work is available in the history of science collection at the University of Oklahoma. A few pages from this manuscript are shown here:

Along Baldi’s unpublished manuscripts is one from 1592 on the subject of dialling, that is, the construction of sundials.

In 1621, Baldi’s book on Aristotle’s mechanics was published posthumously. He provided geometrical diagrams to help explain the physical problems considered.

A full digitization of the printed version of Cronica de matematici is available in the Internet Archive. The manuscripts of Cronica de matematici and Nouae gnomonices libri quinque may be viewed in the University of Oklahoma’s digital collections. In mechanica Aristotelis problemata exercitationes is available from GoogleBooks.

Index to Mathematical Treasures