Restoro d'Arezzo

Ristoro or Restoro d'Arezzo was an Italian monk of the 13th century, author of the Composizione del Mondo[1] of c. 1282.

This is the first astronomical work to be written in Italian (Tuscan).[2] It contains also, as its title (The Composition of the World) suggests, geological theories: these covered the internal structure of a spherical shell Earth, fossils, and erosion, amongst others.

He observed a solar eclipse in 1239 and noted the exact time spend in totality.[3]

It has been claimed that Dante was familiar with Ristoro’s work.[4] Dante in the Quaestio de Aqua et Terra dated to 1320 did consider related matters.[5]

References

Notes

  1. Called a ‘vernacular astronomy primer’
  2. In fact the first scientific work in Italian; see the external link. Also it is the first Italian prose work.
  3. Peter Pesic Sky in a Bottle Cambridge MA:2005- MIT Press Page 27
  4. Dante Alighieri.
  5. There has been some past scholarly controversy over whether this work really is by Dante.

External links

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