Diagram for the Florentine Problem
Date
17 January 1694
Creator
Unknown, Artist
Object type
Archive reference number
Manuscript page number
p2
Material
Dimensions
height (page): 207mm
width (page): 165mm
width (page): 165mm
Subject
Description
This figure is from David Gregory's solution to the 'Florentine' problem set by Vincenzo Viviani, a disciple of Galileo Galilei, in the Acta Eruditorum (1692). The task was to create four equal-sized windows from a spherical dome in such a way that the remainder of the sphere would be quadrable. Gregory's solution was presented to the Royal Society through Edmond Halley on 17 January 1694, and was printed in Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, vol. 18, no. 207 (January 1694). Gregory's solution was one of several correct solutions offered.
Transcription
'Solutio Problematis Florentini' by David Gregory in his letter to Edmond Halley
Transcribed by the Making Visible project
Transcribed by the Making Visible project
Object history
17 January 1694, 'Halley produced Dr Gregory's Letter to himself about the Florentine Problem of taking four segments out of a Hemisphere so as to leave the residue of the Curve surface Quadrable. Dr Gregory sent up his Demonstration of the said Problem, which was referd to Dr Hook to examine'; 24 January 1694, 'Ordered, that Sr Viviani have a Copy of Dr Gregory's Solution of the Florentin Problem communicated to him, and that Dr Gregorys Paper be published in the Transactions' (JBO/9/149-50).
Fig. 3 in David Gregory, ‘Solutio problematis Florentini’, Phil. Trans., vol. 18, no. 207 (January 1694), pp. 25-29.
Fig. 3 in David Gregory, ‘Solutio problematis Florentini’, Phil. Trans., vol. 18, no. 207 (January 1694), pp. 25-29.
Related fellows
David Gregory (1659 - 1708, British) , Astronomer, Astronomer
Edmond Halley (1656 - 1742, British) , Astronomer
Edmond Halley (1656 - 1742, British) , Astronomer
Associated place