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Evangelista TorricelliItalian physicist and mathematician
Date of Birth: 15.10.1608
Country:  Italy |
Content:
- Biography of Evangelista Torricelli
- Studies and Contributions
- Discoveries
- Contributions to Fluid Mechanics
- Death
Biography of Evangelista Torricelli
Evangelista Torricelli was an Italian physicist and mathematician. He was born on October 15, 1608, in Faenza. In 1627, he moved to Rome, where he studied mathematics under the guidance of Benedetto Castelli, a friend and student of Galileo Galilei.
Studies and Contributions
Inspired by Galileo's work on motion, Torricelli wrote his own treatise on the subject called "Trattato del moto" (Treatise on Motion) in 1640. In 1641, he moved to Arcetri and became a student and secretary of Galileo. Later, he succeeded Galileo as the professor of mathematics and philosophy at the University of Florence.
Discoveries
Building upon Galileo's research, Torricelli demonstrated in 1643 that air has weight and that a pump cannot draw water to a height greater than 10 meters. Together with Vincenzo Viviani, Torricelli performed an experiment using a glass tube approximately 1 meter long, sealed at one end and filled with mercury. They then submerged the open end of the tube in a wide container of mercury. When the finger covering the opening was removed, the mercury column in the tube fell to a height of approximately 76 cm, leaving a vacant space above the surface of the mercury (known as Torricelli's vacuum). Torricelli concluded that this height measured the pressure of the air (atmospheric pressure). His apparatus essentially became the first barometer, and many modern barometers are constructed similarly to Torricelli's tube.
Contributions to Fluid Mechanics
In 1641, Torricelli formulated the law of fluid flow through holes in the walls of an open container and derived a formula for determining the velocity of flow (known as Torricelli's law).
