Bonaventura Cavalieri

Life[edit]

Born in Milan, Cavalieri joined the Jesuates order (not to be confused with the Jesuits^[2]) at the age of fifteen, taking the name Bonaventura upon becoming a novice of the order, and remained a member until his death.^[3] He took his vows as a full member of the order in 1615, at the age of seventeen, and shortly after joined the Jesuat house in Pisa. By 1616 he was a student of geometry at the University of Pisa. There he came under the tutelage of Benedetto Castelli, who probably introduced him to Galileo Galilei. In 1617 he briefly joined the Medici court in Florence, under the patronage of Cardinal Federico Borromeo, but the following year he returned to Pisa and began teaching Mathematics in place of Castelli. He applied for the Chair of Mathematics at the University of Bologna but was turned down.^[1]


In 1620, he returned to the Jesuate house in Milan, where he had lived as a novitiate, and became a deacon under Cardinal Borromeo. He studied theology in the monastery of San Gerolamo in Milan, and was named prior of the monastery of St. Peter in Lodi. In 1623 he was made prior of St. Benedict's monastery in Parma, but was still applying for positions in mathematics. He applied again to Bologna and then, in 1626, to the Sapienza, but was refused each time, despite taking six months' leave of absence to support his case to Sapienza in Rome.^[1] In 1626 he began to suffer from gout, which would restrict his movements for the rest of his life.^[4] He was also turned down from a position at the University of Parma, which he believed was due to his membership of the Jesuate order, as Parma was administered by the Jesuit order at the time. In 1629 he was appointed Chair of Mathematics at the University of Bologna, which is attributed to Galileo's support of him to the Bolognese senate.^[1][5]


He published most of his work while at Bologna, though some of it had been written previously; his Geometria Indivisibilibus, where he outlined what would later become the method of indivisibles, was written in 1627 while in Parma and presented as part of his application to Bologna, but was not published until 1635. Contemporary critical reception was mixed, and Exercitationes geometricae sex (Six Exercises in Geometry) was published in 1647, partly as a response to criticism. Also at Bologna, he published tables of logarithms and information on their use, promoting their use in Italy.


Galileo exerted a strong influence on Cavalieri, and Cavalieri would write at least 112 letters to Galileo. Galileo said of him, "few, if any, since Archimedes, have delved as far and as deep into the science of geometry."^[6] He corresponded widely; his known correspondents include Marin Mersenne, Evangelista Torricelli and Vincenzo Viviani.^[4] Torricelli in particular was instrumental in refining and promoting the method of indivisibles.^[1] He also benefited from the patronage of Cesare Marsili.^[6]


Towards the end of his life, his health declined significantly. Arthritis prevented him from writing, and much of his correspondence was dictated and written by Stephano degli Angeli, a fellow Jesuate and student of Cavalieri. Angeli would go on to further develop Cavalieri's method.


In 1647 he died, probably of gout.^[4]