| Term Paper Title |
Evangelista Torricelli |
| # of Words |
558 |
| # of Pages (250 words per page double spaced) |
2.23 |
Evangelista Torricelli
EVANGELISTA TORRICELLI
Every time you turn on the TV or radio and hear a weather forecast, one man
is responsible for the birth of meteorology, the science of predicting the
weather. His name is Evangelista Torricelli, an Italian scientist and
mathematician. In 1643, he invented perhaps one of the most important devices in
predicting weather: the barometer.
Evangelista Torricelli was born October 15th, 1608 in what is now known as
Faenza, Italy. Little information is known about his early years of life. In
1624 he entered the Jesuit College of Faenza, then moved on to the Collegio
Romano in Rome. Here his talents and intellect were recognized and he was then
moved on to the University of Sapienza, now known as the University of Rome, to
be taught by the great Italian professor, Castelli. Also during this time,
Torricelli served as Castelli’s secretary from 1636 to 1642. Over the next
nine years he served a large number of professors as a secretary and learned
much from each of them.
Torricelli is included in our textbook for his two major contributions to the
world of science. First of all, he invented the barometer, a device that is
still used today to measure the amount of atmospheric pressure, which is helpful
for detecting inclement weather. Secondly, he is the namesake for a unit of
pressure known as the Torr. The invention of the barometer is considered by most
to be his biggest contribution to science. While serving as Galileo’s
secretary from 1641 to 1642, he learned many things about pressure and
temperature from the great scientist. Galileo had been struggling to create a
water thermometer. He could not understand why water could not be suspended in a
tube taller than 34 feet. After much research...Read entire document
|
|
|
