Paolo Frisi | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Portrait of Paolo Frisi byAndrea Appiani (Detail) | |
| Born | Giuseppe Frisi (1728-04-13)13 April 1728 |
| Died | 22 November 1784(1784-11-22) (aged 56) |
| Resting place | Sant'Alessandro in Zebedia |
| Parent(s) | Giovanni Mattia Frisi and Francesca Frisi (née Magnetti) |
| Relatives | Antonio Francesco Frisi (brother) |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | |
| Institutions | |
| Notable students | |
| Ecclesiastical career | |
| Religion | Christianity |
| Church | Catholic Church |
| Ordained | February 1751 |
Paolo FrisiCRSPFRS (13 April 1728 – 22 November 1784) was an Italianpriest,mathematician andastronomer.[1] Frisi's work laid the foundation for understanding angular velocity as a vector, which is crucial in analyzingrotational dynamics.
Frisi was born inMelegnano in 1728; his siblingAntonio Francesco, born in 1735, went on to be a historian.[2] Frisi was educated at the localBarnabite monastery and afterwards in that ofPadua. When twenty-one years of age he composed a treatise on the figure of the earth, and the reputation which he soon acquired led to his appointment by theKing of Sardinia to the professorship of philosophy in the College ofCasale. He succeededHyacinthe Sigismond Gerdil, who had been appointed professor of philosophy at theUniversity of Turin. His friendship withRadicati, a man of liberal opinions, occasioned Frisi's removal by his clerical superiors to Novara, where he was compelled to do duty as a preacher.[1]
In 1753 he was elected a corresponding member of theParis Academy of Sciences, and shortly afterwards he became professor of philosophy at the Barnabite College of St Alexander at Milan. An acrimonious attack by a young Jesuit, about this time, upon his dissertation on the figure of the earth laid the foundation of his animosity against the Jesuits, with whose enemies, includingJean d'Alembert,J. A. N. Condorcet and other Encyclopedists, he later closely associated himself. As an astronomer Frisi gained international recognition for his studies on the daily movement of the earth. HisDe motu diurno terrae, published in 1756, was awarded a prize by thePrussian Academy of Sciences. In 1756 he was appointed byLeopold,Grand Duke of Tuscany, to the professorship of mathematics in theuniversity of Pisa, a post which he held for eight years. In 1756[3] he became an associate of theSt. Petersburg Academy of Sciences, and a foreign member of theRoyal Society of London, and in 1758 a member of the Academy of Berlin, in 1766 of theRoyal Swedish Academy of Sciences, and in 1770 of the Academies of Copenhagen and of Bern. From several European crowned heads he received, at various times, marks of special distinction, and the empressMaria Theresa granted him a yearly pension of 100sequins.[1]
In 1764 he was created professor of mathematics in the palatine schools at Milan, and obtained from PopePius VI the release from ecclesiastical jurisdiction, and authority to become asecular priest. In the same year he began contributing theliterary magazineIl Caffè, founded by his friend Pietro Verri. In 1766 he visited France and England, and in 1768 Vienna. His knowledge ofhydraulics caused him to be frequently consulted with respect to the management of canals and other watercourses in various parts of Europe. It was through his means thatlightning conductors were first introduced into Italy for the protection of buildings.[1]
He died in Milan on 22 November 1784 and was buried in the Church ofSant'Alessandro in Zebedia.[4] Several colleges in Italy are named after him.[5]
One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Frisi, Paolo".Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 11 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 232.
