Rafael Mirami (; ) was a 16th-century Jewish author and optical physicist from the city of

Ferrara Ferrara (; ; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) in Emilia-Romagna, Northern Italy, capital of the province of Ferrara. it had 132,009 inhabitants. It is situated northeast of Bologna, on the Po di Volano, a branch channel of the main ...

. He is described as having "pioneered" the field of

catoptrics Catoptrics (from ''katoptrikós'', "specular", from ''katoptron'' "mirror") deals with the phenomena of reflected light and image-forming optical systems using mirrors. A catoptric system is also called a ''catopter'' (''catoptre''). Histor ...

Biography

Mirami was active in the 16th century in the city of

. He wrote poetry and studied the science of

optics Optics is the branch of physics that studies the behaviour and properties of light, including its interactions with matter and the construction of optical instruments, instruments that use or Photodetector, detect it. Optics usually describes t ...

and mirrors. He described little of himself in his writing, but presented himself as Jewish and a physicist. His Treatise, ''A Concise Introduction to the First Part of the Specularia...'', was published in 1582. Some have credited his work around mirrors to have been influential in the development of scientific skepticism using reflective thinking. He also cited the field of catoptrics development and discovery to the thinking of sages, requiring a superior state of mind and wisdom. This has been credited as a fallacy of appeal to ancient wisdom. Mirami's work in catoptrics allowed him to make astronomical calculations based off of reflections, and his research in its applications is credited with having helped

Pope Gregory XIII Pope Gregory XIII (, , born Ugo Boncompagni; 7 January 1502 – 10 April 1585) was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 13 May 1572 to his death in April 1585. He is best known for commissioning and being the namesake ...

recalculate measurements for the creation of the

Gregorian calendar The Gregorian calendar is the calendar used in most parts of the world. It went into effect in October 1582 following the papal bull issued by Pope Gregory XIII, which introduced it as a modification of, and replacement for, the Julian cale ...

. He was an admirer of Abramo Colorni, and often cited him in his works. He also cited in his treatise the works of

Dante Dante Alighieri (; most likely baptized Durante di Alighiero degli Alighieri; – September 14, 1321), widely known mononymously as Dante, was an Italian Italian poetry, poet, writer, and philosopher. His ''Divine Comedy'', originally called ...

Horace Quintus Horatius Flaccus (; 8 December 65 BC – 27 November 8 BC), Suetonius, Life of Horace commonly known in the English-speaking world as Horace (), was the leading Roman lyric poet during the time of Augustus (also known as Octavian). Th ...

, and

Petrarch Francis Petrarch (; 20 July 1304 – 19 July 1374; ; modern ), born Francesco di Petracco, was a scholar from Arezzo and poet of the early Italian Renaissance, as well as one of the earliest Renaissance humanism, humanists. Petrarch's redis ...

Works

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References

{{Authority control, qid=Q18945760 Writers from Ferrara 16th-century Italian Jews Jewish Italian writers Jewish Italian scientists Optical physicists