Jean-Charles della Faille (
Dutch
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* Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States
* Pennsylvania Dutch Country
People E ...
: Jan-Karel della Faille,
Spanish
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**Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain
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: Juan Carlos della Faille), born in
Antwerp, 1 March 1597 and died in
Barcelona
Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...
, 4 November 1652, was a Flemish
Jesuit priest from
Brabant, and a
mathematician
A mathematician is someone who uses an extensive knowledge of mathematics in their work, typically to solve mathematical problems.
Mathematicians are concerned with numbers, data, quantity, structure, space, models, and change.
History
On ...
of repute.
He was born in
Antwerp, part of the
Spanish Empire
The Spanish Empire ( es, link=no, Imperio español), also known as the Hispanic Monarchy ( es, link=no, Monarquía Hispánica) or the Catholic Monarchy ( es, link=no, Monarquía Católica) was a colonial empire governed by Spain and its prede ...
at that time. He was educated at the
Jesuit school founded by
François d'Aguilon, and joined the Jesuit
order in 1613. He then went to a Jesuit college in
Mechelen for two years. Afterwards, he came back to Antwerp where, as one of the best
Mathematics' students of
Grégoire de Saint-Vincent
Grégoire de Saint-Vincent - in latin : Gregorius a Sancto Vincentio, in dutch : Gregorius van St-Vincent - (8 September 1584 Bruges – 5 June 1667 Ghent) was a Flemish Jesuit and mathematician. He is remembered for his work on quadrature of th ...
, he became also his disciple. In 1620, he went to
Dole
Dole may refer to:
Places
* Dole, Ceredigion, Wales
* Dole, Idrija, Slovenia
* Dole, Jura, France
** Arrondissement of Dole
* Dole (Kladanj), a village at the entity line of Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina-Republika Srpska
* Dole, Ljubušk ...
, also part of the
Spanish Empire
The Spanish Empire ( es, link=no, Imperio español), also known as the Hispanic Monarchy ( es, link=no, Monarquía Hispánica) or the Catholic Monarchy ( es, link=no, Monarquía Católica) was a colonial empire governed by Spain and its prede ...
, to teach
mathematics and learn
theology
Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the ...
in view of being ordained to the
priesthood. The ordination took place 10 April 1621.
From 1626 to 1628, he taught mathematics at the Jesuit scholasticate of
Louvain, before being appointed to the
Imperial College in
Madrid
Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the Largest cities of the Europ ...
. He there advised
Philip IV, king of
Spain
, image_flag = Bandera de España.svg
, image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg
, national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond")
, national_anthem = (English: "Royal March")
, i ...
, on military questions, specially
fortification
A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere' ...
s, and taught mathematics as well.
His most famous book is ''Theoremata de centro gravitatis partium circuli et ellipsis'' (1632) in which he determined the
centre of gravity
In physics, the center of mass of a distribution of mass in space (sometimes referred to as the balance point) is the unique point where the weighted relative position of the distributed mass sums to zero. This is the point to which a force ma ...
of the
sector of a circle, for the first time. At the request of della Faille's family, the Flemish painter
Anthony van Dyck painted a portrait of the mathematician in 1629. The portrait shows the mathematician in his Jesuit outfit with a set of tools (including a compass,
[The compass in the painting is the model of compass developed earlier by another mathematician established in Antwerpen, ]Michiel Coignet
Michiel Coignet (also Quignet, Cognet or Connette in Italian) (1549 in Antwerp – 24 December 1623 in Antwerp) was a Flemish polymath who made significant contributions to various disciplines including cosmography, mathematics, navigation and c ...
. Several of these compasses are on display in the "Ciencias Nauticas" Room of the Madrid Naval Museum. a t-square and a globe).
He died in
Barcelona
Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...
, aged 55.
See also
*
List of Jesuit scientists
This is a list of Catholic clergy throughout history who have made contributions to science. These churchmen-scientists include Nicolaus Copernicus, Gregor Mendel, Georges Lemaître, Albertus Magnus, Roger Bacon, Pierre Gassendi, Roger Joseph ...
*
List of Roman Catholic scientist-clerics
A ''list'' is any set of items in a row. List or lists may also refer to:
People
* List (surname)
Organizations
* List College, an undergraduate division of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America
* SC Germania List, German rugby unio ...
References
The Mac Tutor History of MathematicsPortrait of Jan-Karel della Faille by Anthony van Dyck
External links
*
1597 births
1652 deaths
Engineers of the Spanish Netherlands
Catholic clergy scientists
Clergy from Antwerp
Jesuit scientists
Mathematicians of the Spanish Netherlands
Jesuits of the Spanish Netherlands
Engineers from Antwerp
{{europe-mathematician-stub