Jump to content

Francesco Maria Grimaldi

From Catholicism Wiki
The Reverend
Francesco Maria Grimaldi
SJ
Born 2 April 1618
Bologna
Died 28 August 1663 (aged 45)
Bologna
Other names Francisco Maria Grimaldo
Franciscus Grimaldi
Known for Free fall, diffraction
Scientific career
Fields Mathematics, Physics

Francesco Maria Grimaldi SJ (2 April 1618 – 28 December 1663) was an Italian Jesuit priest, mathematician and physicist who taught at the Jesuit college in Bologna. He was born in Bologna to Paride Grimaldi and Anna Cattani.[1]

Work

Between 1640 and 1650, working with Riccioli, he investigated the free fall of objects, confirming that the distance of fall was proportional to the square of the time taken. Grimaldi and Riccioli also made a calculation of gravity at the Earth's surface by recording the oscillations of an accurate pendulum.[2]

In astronomy, he built and used instruments to measure lunar mountains as well as the height of clouds, and drew an accurate map or, selenograph, which was published by Riccioli and now adorns the entrance to the National Air and Space Museum in Washington D.C.

He discovered and was the first to make accurate observations on the diffraction of light[3][4] and coined the word 'diffraction'. In his book Physico-Mathesis de Lumine, Coloribus et Iride (1665), he stated the theory of the reconstitution of sunlight from refracted coloured light.[5] (There is a far-fetched account that Leonardo da Vinci had earlier noted the effect.[6][7])

Through experimentation he was able to demonstrate that the observed passage of light could not be reconciled with the idea that it moved in a rectilinear path. Rather, the light that passed through the hole took on the shape of a cone. Later physicists used his work as evidence that light was a wave, significantly, Dutch mathematician Christiaan Huygens. He also discovered what are known as diffraction bands.[8]

The crater Grimaldi on the Moon is named after him.[9]

The asteroid 129743 Grimaldi is named after him.[10]

Publications

He only published one work:

The work is mainly remembered for being the first report of diffraction. In the work, he was mainly concerned with two questions:

  1. Is light a substance or an accident [roughly the same as "property"]?
  2. What is the relation between light and color?

He argued that light is probably a subtle fluid (thus a substance), though it might still be an accident (as Aristotelians believed). He also argued that color is associated with undulations of the subtle fluid.[11]

See also

  • List of Jesuit scientists
  • List of Roman Catholic scientist-clerics

From the 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia

Francesco Maria Grimaldi — Italian physicist, b. at Bologna, 2 April, 1618; d. in the same city, 28 Dec., 1663. He entered the Society of Jesus, 18 March, 1632; and, after the usual course of studies, spent twenty-five years as professor of belles-lettres in the colleges of the order. His tastes were, however, scientific, and he found time for study and research in physics and astronomy, to which he devoted himself almost entirely in his later years. He assisted P. Riccioli in his experiments (1640-1650) on falling bodies, and in his surveys, in 1645, to determine the length of an arc of the meridian. He was also a close observer of the moon's surface and constructed a map which was incorporated in Riccioli's "Almagestum Novum". He gave the names of illustrious philosophers and astronomers to the elevations and depressions on the moon to which Hevelius, before him, had applied the names borne by terrestrial seas and mountains.

Grimaldi's most important scientific work was done in optics, in which field he became a worthy predecessor of Newton and Huyghens. He made several discoveries of fundamental importance, but they were much in advance of the theory of the time, and their significance was not recognized until over a century later. The first of these is the phenomenon of diffraction. He allowed a beam of sunlight to pass through a small aperture in a screen, and noticed that it was diffused in the form of a cone. The shadow of a body placed in the path of the beam was larger than that required by the rectilinear propagation of light. Careful observation also showed that the shadow was surrounded by coloured fringes, similar ones being seen within the edges, especially in the case of narrow objects. He showed that the effect could not be due to reflection or refraction, and concluded that the light was bent out of its course in passing the edges of bodies. This phenomenon, to which he gave the name of diffraction, was also studied by Hooke and Newton; but the true explanation was only given by Fresnel on the basis of the wave theory. Grimaldi also discovered that when sunlight, entering a room through two small apertures, was allowed to fall on a screen, the region illuminated by the two beams was darker than when illuminated by either of them separately. He was thus led to enunciate the principle that an illuminated body may become darker by adding light to that which it already receives. This is, in reality, the well-known principle of interference afterwards so brilliantly employed by Young and Fresnel. It has been questioned whether the phenomenon observed by Grimaldi was really due to interference. He himself regarded it simply as a conclusive proof of the immaterial nature of light which he was then investigating. He was likewise the first to observe the dispersion of the sun's rays in passing through a prism. Grimaldi was conspicuous for his amiability, gentleness, and modesty. He was the author of "Physicomathesis de lumine, coloribus, et iride, aliisque annexis" (Bologna, 1665), published after his death.

SOMMERVOGEL, Bibliothèque de la Comp. de Jésus (Paris, 1892), III, 1834; HELLER, Geschichte der Physik (Stuttgart, 1884), II, 26; ROSENBERGER, Geschichte der Physik (Brunswick, 1887-90), II, 131.

References

  1. Back to citation Hockey, Thomas (2009). The Biographical Encyclopedia of Astronomers. Springer Publishing. ISBN 978-0-387-31022-0. Retrieved August 22, 2012.
  2. Back to citation J.L. Heilbron, Electricity in the 17th and 18th Centuries: A Study of Early Modern Physics (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1979), 180.
  3. Back to citation Francesco Maria Grimaldi, Physico mathesis de lumine, coloribus, et iride, aliisque annexis libri duo (Bologna ("Bonomia"), Italy: Vittorio Bonati, 1665), pp. 1–11 (in Latin).
  4. Back to citation Florian Cajori (1899). A history of physics in its elementary branches: including the evolution of physical laboratories. The Macmillan Company. pp. 88–. Retrieved 14 August 2011.
  5. Back to citation David L. MacAdam (1993). Selected Papers on Colorimetry - Fundamentals. SPIE, The International Society for Optical Engineering. pp. xiv–xvi. ISBN 0-8194-1296-1.
  6. Back to citation Guglielmo Libri, Histoire des sciences mathematiques en Italie Archived 2006-11-28 at the Wayback Machine (1840)
  7. Back to citation Libri, Guglielmo (1840). Histoire des sciences mathematiques en Italie, depuis la renaissance des lettres jusqu'a la fin du 17. siecle / par Guillaume Libri Vol. 3. A Paris: chez Jules Renouard et C.ie, 1840.
  8. Back to citation Thomas E. Woods (2005). How the Catholic Church built Western civilization. Regnery Publishing. pp. 105–. ISBN 978-0-89526-038-3. Retrieved 14 August 2011.
  9. Back to citation Grimaldi, Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature, International Astronomical Union (IAU) Working Group for Planetary System Nomenclature (WGPSN)
  10. Back to citation Macke, Robert (11 February 2023). "Latest Batch of Named Asteroids Includes Three Jesuit Astronomers and a Pope". Vatican Observatory. Retrieved November 20, 2025.
  11. Back to citation Lindberg, David C. (April 1969). "Physico-mathesis de lumine, coloribus, et iride. Francesco Maria Grimaldi". Isis. 60 (1): 119. doi:10.1086/350461. ISSN 0021-1753.
Retrieved from "https://catholicism.wiki/index.php?title=Francesco_Maria_Grimaldi&oldid=199148"