704 william eamon
Pacioli lectured on euclid in the church of San Bartolomeo to an overflow
crowd that included aldus Manutius, Marin Sanudo (Marino Sanuto),
and Giacondo.12 in 1530, the Venetian Senate established a public chair
of mathematics, appointing the influential patrician Giovanni Battista
Memmo as its first professor.
MechanicsThe Venetian approach to mathematics was characterized by a steadfast
concern with the application of mathematics to physical problems—
a reflection of the government’s tendency to support practical scientific
projects more readily than theoretical ones.13 Thus, one finds in Venetian
humanist circles an avid interest in the study of mechanics, which was
always regarded as a mixed mathematical-physical science. That entire
tradition, virtually, had its roots in the rediscovery and publication of the
pseudo-aristotelian Mechanical Problems (Mechanica problemata).14
it is customary to think that the origins of modern science lay in a
revolt against the authority of aristotle and the Scholastics. Such an inter-
pretation, while true in the long run, overshadows the robust aristotelian
tradition that humanists themselves advanced. Bessarion’s manuscript of
the aristotelian corpus became the basis for the aldine editio princeps
of the complete works of aristotle, published in Venice in four volumes
in 1495–98. The Mechanical Problems was part of that edition, making it
widely accessible.15
Mechanical Problems consists of a theoretical introduction and a dis-
cussion of 35 problems in statics and dynamics. according to the intro-
duction, the work intended to explain “marvels” that occur against nature
(praeter naturam) but are produced in accordance with nature’s laws. The
“problems” included questions such as: Why small forces can move great
weights by means of a lever, why rowers in the middle of ships contrib-
ute most to their movement, and so on. Such topics, all with practical
12 lowry, World of Aldus Manutius, p. 137.
13 Many of the texts relating to the italian renaissance of mechanics may be accessed
online through the archimedes Project: http://archimedes2.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/
archimedes_templates.
14 Mechanica problemeta, also known as De mechanica, was a work not by aristotle but
more likely by his student Strato.
15 on De mechanica in the renaissance, see Paul lawrence rose and Stillman drake,
“The Pseudo-aristotelian Questions of Mechanics in renaissance culture,” Studies in the
Renaissance 18 (1971), 65–104.