Born: 15 October 1608 · Died: 25 October 1647 · Age: 39
Italian physicist and mathematician who invented the mercury barometer
Did you know?He served as a secretary to Galileo Galilei during the final months of the legendary scientist's life.
Quick facts
Date of birth15 October 1608
Date of death25 October 1647
Age at death39
Cause of deathTyphoid fever
NationalityItalian
BirthplaceRome, Italy
Occupationmathematician, physicist, inventor
Editor's Take:
Evangelista Torricelli showed that air has weight, settling a debate that stretched back to Aristotle. By filling a glass tube with mercury and upending it in a dish, he produced a sustained vacuum above the liquid. He realised the column was held up by the pressure of the atmosphere. The experiment gave science the barometer and a new way to think about nature. He also made advances in geometry and the study of fluids. He died young, only five years after Galileo.
Key Milestones
1641: Becomes Galileo's assistant
1642: Succeeds Galileo as court mathematician in Florence
1643: Creates the first mercury barometer
Evangelista Torricelli ( TORR-ee-CHEL-ee, Italian:; 15 October 1608 – 25 October 1647) was an Italian physicist and mathematician, and a student of Benedetto Castelli. He is best known for his invention of the barometer, but is also known for his advances in optics and work on the method of indivisibles.
Evangelista Torricelli's birthday is October 15. He was born on October 15, 1608 in Rome, Italy.
How old was Evangelista Torricelli when he died?
Evangelista Torricelli died on October 25, 1647, aged 39.
Who shares a birthday with Evangelista Torricelli?
Famous people who share Evangelista Torricelli's October 15 birthday include Friedrich Nietzsche, Akbar, Michel Foucault, Mikhail Lermontov and Mesut Özil.
