Invention Timeline - Evangelista Torricelli, Italian Physicist; Inventor of the Barometer in 1643
b. October 15, 1608 and d. October 25, 1647
Italian physicist. Invented the instrument we now call the barometer, 1643, and demonstrated the phenomena of the pressure of air in 1645. He demonstrated the most important properties of the common centre of gravity of a system of connected bodies and discovered the law of the flow of fluids out of orifices, which is the foundation of the whole science of hydraulics. He discovered the area of the cycloid.
He had a clear, honest face, whose rough-hewn strength
Was mildened by the scholar’s wiser heart
To sober courage, such as best befits
The unsullied temper of a well-taught mind,
Yet so remained that one could plainly guess
The hushed volcano smouldering underneath.
He spoke: the other hearing, kept his gaze
Still fixed, as on some problem in the sky.
—A Glance Behind the Curtain: Lowell
1648, September 19—At the suggestion of Pascal, Perrier, his brother-in-law, demonstrated that the boroscope (barometer) could be used to determine altitudes.
1736-1805—Christian Brunings lived. He invented the strom-messer, an instrument for measuring the rapidity of streams.
1743—Clairant developed his formulæ of the equilibrium of fluids and applied it to the shape of the earth.
