Tommaso Ceva


Born: 20 Dec 1648 in Milan, Italy
Died: 3 Feb 1737 in Milan, Italy

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Tommaso Ceva was the brother of Giovanni Ceva. At the age of fifteen he entered the Society of Jesus. His education was entirely within the Jesuit Order and he obtained a degree in theology.

Tommaso Ceva became professor of mathematics and rhetoric at the Jesuit College of Brera in Milan and taught there for more than forty years. His most famous student at this College in Milan was Saccheri.

Tommaso Ceva's mathematical work is summed up in Opuscula Mathematica (1699) which examines geometry, gravity and arithmetic. He also designed an instrument to divide a right angle into a given number of equal parts.

Ceva corresponded with several other mathematicians including Viviani and Grandi.

He was a noted poet, his Latin poem Jesus Puer being translated into many languages. In fact he seems to have spent more time producing Latin prose than he did mathematics.

He was made a fellow of the Arcadia in 1718. This Italian literary academy was founded in Rome in 1690 to promote a more natural, simple poetic style.

Article by: J J O'Connor and E F Robertson

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List of References (3 books/articles)

Mathematicians born in the same country


Other Web sites
  1. The Galileo Project
  1. The Catholic Encyclopedia

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