Federico Commandino


Federico Commandino was an Italian humanist and mathematician.
Born in Urbino, he studied at Padua and at Ferrara, where he received his doctorate in medicine. He was most famous for his central role as translator of works of ancient mathematicians. In this, his sources were primarily written in Greek and secondarily in Arabic, while his translations were primarily in Latin and secondarily in Italian. He was responsible for the publication of many treatises of Archimedes. He also translated the works of Aristarchus of Samos, Pappus of Alexandria, Hero of Alexandria, Ptolemy of Alexandria, Apollonius of Perga and Euclid of Alexandria. Among his pupils was Guidobaldo del Monte and Bernardino Baldi. Commandino maintained a correspondence with the astronomer Francesco Maurolico. The proposition known as Commandino's theorem first appears in his work on centers of gravity.