Francesco Maria Grimaldi
APR 02, 2015
Today is the birthday of Italian Renaissance era scientist Francesco Maria Grimaldi, who was born in Bologna in 1618. Grimaldi was a Jesuit priest who taught at the university in Bologna and collaborated with Giovanni Battista Riccioli on a number of projects. Together they confirmed that the distance an object fell was proportional to the […]
DOI: 10.1063/PT.5.030934
Today is the birthday of Italian Renaissance era scientist Francesco Maria Grimaldi, who was born in Bologna in 1618. Grimaldi was a Jesuit priest who taught at the university in Bologna and collaborated with Giovanni Battista Riccioli on a number of projects. Together they confirmed that the distance an object fell was proportional to the square of the time it fell and published a map of the features of the Moon. Grimaldi also coined the term “diffraction” and was the first to make accurate measurements of the diffraction of light.
Date in History: 2 April 1618
© 2015. American Institute of Physics