Carlo Antonio Manzini

Conte Carlo Antonio Manzini (1599–1677/1678) was an Italian astronomer and mathematician. (His last name is sometimes given as Mangini or Mansini).

Le comete ("The comets"), 1665

Biography

A member of the Bolognese nobility, he was a member of the Accademia dei Gelati and one of the founders of the Accademia dei Vespertini. Manzini published works on various phenomena, including comets, geodesy, and declination of the compass. In 1626 he published Tabulae primi mobilis: quibus nova dirigendi ars et praecipue circuli positionis inventio, non minus facilis quam exacta ostenditur. This volume presented tables for the construction of astrological charts.

His 1660 work, L'occhiale all'occhio, dioptrica practica, is one of the oldest accounts of the techniques for manufacturing lenses through grinding and polishing. Manzini was in close personal contact with the two principal makers of telescopes in Italy, Francesco Fontana and Eustachio Divini. A portrait of Divini is included in his book which forms a complete practical manual for the artisan in the construction of both microscopes and telescopes.

A skilled astronomer, Manzini made astronomical observations from his private observatory, which he maintained at his villa at Battedizzo near Bologna.

Sources list his year of death as 1677 or 1678. The crater Manzinus on the Moon is named after him. 

Works
  • Tabulae primi mobilis, quibus nova dirigendi ars, et praecipue circuli positionis inventio non minus facilis, quam exacta ostenditur (in Latin). Bologna: Nicolò Tebaldini. 1626.
  • Manzini, Carlo Antonio (1650). Della sicura incertezza nella declinatione dell'ago magnetico dal meridiano, del modo di terminar l'ombre gnomoniche con altre invenzioni utili (in Italian). Bologna: Evangelista Dozza (1.), eredi.
  • Stella Gonzaga sive geographica ad terrarum orbis ambitum, et meridianorum differentias (in Latin). Bologna: Evangelista Dozza (1.), eredi. 1654.
  • Occhiale all'occhio (in Italian). Bologna: eredi Vittorio Benacci. 1660.
  • Comete (in Italian). Bologna: Giovanni Battista Ferroni. 1665.

Bibliography


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