Born Oct. 15, 1608, in Faenza; died Oct. 25, 1647, in Florence. Italian mathematician and physicist.

Torricelli studied mathematics in Rome under B. Castelli, a former student of Galileo’s. In 1641 he moved to Arcetri, where he became Galileo’s secretary. In 1642, after Galileo’s death, Torricelli was appointed the court mathematician of the grand duke of Tuscany and professor of mathematics at the Florentine Academy.

Torricelli is best known for his work in pneumatics and mechanics. In 1644 he developed a theory of atmospheric pressure; he demonstrated the production of what is called the Torricellian vacuum, and he invented the mercury barometer. In his principal work on mechanics, Treatise on the Motion of Freely Falling and Projected Bodies (1641), he developed Galileo’s concepts of motion, formulated the principle of the motion of centers of gravity, laid the foundations of hydraulics, and presented an equation for the speed of efflux of an ideal liquid from a vessel (Torricelli’s law). Torricelli also made contributions to mathematics (for example, he worked on the method of indivisibles) and ballistics. He made improvements in optical instruments and wrote on lensgrinding techniques.

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