Eight-Point Compasses

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|nome= Nome documentato da Milles Denorry ("Compas à huict Poinctes") nel 1588.
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|nome=  
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Name documented by Milles Denorry ("Compas à huict Poinctes") in 1588.
|inventore= Fabrizio Mordente (1532-1608?)
|inventore= Fabrizio Mordente (1532-1608?)
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|data= 1585
|data= 1585
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|descrizione= Quarta versione del cosiddetto [[compasso magistrale]] pubblicata da Fabrizio Mordente in un foglio volante stampato a Parigi nel 1585 dal titolo ''Il Compasso e Figura di Fabritio Mordente...''. Cercando di ottenere un incarito alla corte di Enrico III, Mordente diede varie dimostrazioni pubbliche delle operazione del suo compasso. A una di queste dimostrazione partecipò anche Giordano Bruno che, affascinato dall'invenzione, decise di comporre due dialoghi per svelare i segreti ermetici del compasso, sviluppando le sue prime riflessioni sulla natura del minimo. I ''Dialogi duo'' (Parigi 1586) richiamarono l’attenzione del mondo scientifico sul compasso ma gettarono un’ombra infamante sulla figura di Mordente che fu sospettato di plagio. Mordente denunciò pubblicamente l’arroganza di Bruno e questi scrisse altri due dialoghi in cui il "dio dei geometri", così aveva chiamato Mordente nei precedenti dialoghi, venne impietosamente ritratto come "l’idiota trionfante" (''Idiota Triumphans…''). In seguito alla polemica, il matematico Milles Denorry diede alle stampe un trattato sul compasso, ''L’usage et pratique du Compas à huict Poinctes'' (1588), diffondendo il nome di "compasso a otto punte".  
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Il compasso è formato da due sottili gambe a sezione quadrata sulle quali scorrono quattro cursori con punte ortogonali alle gambe. Le altre quattro punte si trovano due alle estremità delle gambe e due al centro dello snodo. Il compasso doveva essere usato con una particolare figura geometrica, un quadrante, che consentiva di svolgere svariate operazioni proporzionali e di misurare le frazioni dei gradi.
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Fourth version of the so-called [["Compasso Magistrale" (Masterly Compasses) | "compasso magistrale" (masterly compasses)]] described by Fabrizio Mordente in a broadsheet printed in Paris in 1585 entitled ''Il Compasso e Figura di Fabritio Mordente....'' [The Compass and Figure of Fabrizio Mordente…]. Hoping to obtain a position at the court of Henry III, Mordente gave various public demonstrations of his compass. Giordano Bruno was present at one of these demonstrations. Fascinated by the invention, he decided to compose two dialogues to disclose the hermetic secrets of the compass, developing his first reflections on the nature of the minimum. The ''Dialogi duo'' [Two dialogues] (Paris 1586) brought the compass to the attention of the scientific world, but cast a shadow of infamy on Mordente, who was suspected of plagiarism. Mordente publicly denounced the arrogance of Bruno, who wrote another two dialogues in which the "god of geometers", as he had called Mordente in the previous dialogues, was scornfully portrayed as the "Triumphant Idiot" (''Idiota Triumphans…''). After this violent argument, the mathematician Milles Denorry published a treatise on the compasses, ''L’usage et pratique du Compas à huict Poinctes'' [The use and operation of the eight-point compasses] (1588), popularizing the name of 8-point compass. The compasses was composed of two slender square-section legs along which slid four cursors with points orthogonal to the legs. Of the other four points,  two were on the ends of the legs and two at the hinged joint. The compasses was always used with a particular geometric figure, a quadrant, to carry out proportional operations and  measure fractions of degrees.
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|strumentiesistenti= Chicago, Adler Planetarium, M-67b.
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- Adler Planetarium, Chicago <br>
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[http://www.adlerplanetarium.org/4dlink/4DACTION/webserveimage?M-67b Chicago, Adler Planetarium, inv. M-67b]<br>
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http://www.nicolaseverino.it/Articoli/Il_compasso_di_proporzione.pdf (Italian)
|immagini= <gallery widths=230 heights=368 perrow=3>
|immagini= <gallery widths=230 heights=368 perrow=3>
Image: 0050-40308.jpg| Fabrizio Mordente. ''Il compasso e Figura di Fabritio Mordente''. Parigi, 1585.<br />
Image: 0050-40308.jpg| Fabrizio Mordente. ''Il compasso e Figura di Fabritio Mordente''. Parigi, 1585.<br />
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Image: File.jpg| Michel Coignet. ''L'uso del compasso di Fabritio Mordente''. ms., 1608, Modena, Biblioteca Estense, Gamma U.1.18.<br />
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Image: 56694.jpg| Michel Coignet. ''L'uso del compasso di Fabritio Mordente''. ms., 1608, Modena, Biblioteca Estense, Gamma U.1.18- Campori 209, il compasso di Mordente.<br />
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Image: 56695-Compasso_8_punte_p111_1000.jpg| Michel Coignet. ''L'uso del compasso di Fabritio Mordente''. ms., 1608, Modena, Biblioteca Estense, Gamma U.1.18, c. 2v, il compasso di Mordente nell'uso topografico.<br />
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</gallery>
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Current revision as of 08:14, 10 September 2010

Name documented by Milles Denorry ("Compas à huict Poinctes") in 1588.

Contents

Inventor

Fabrizio Mordente (1532-1608?)

Historic Period

1585

Description

Fourth version of the so-called "compasso magistrale" (masterly compasses) described by Fabrizio Mordente in a broadsheet printed in Paris in 1585 entitled Il Compasso e Figura di Fabritio Mordente.... [The Compass and Figure of Fabrizio Mordente…]. Hoping to obtain a position at the court of Henry III, Mordente gave various public demonstrations of his compass. Giordano Bruno was present at one of these demonstrations. Fascinated by the invention, he decided to compose two dialogues to disclose the hermetic secrets of the compass, developing his first reflections on the nature of the minimum. The Dialogi duo [Two dialogues] (Paris 1586) brought the compass to the attention of the scientific world, but cast a shadow of infamy on Mordente, who was suspected of plagiarism. Mordente publicly denounced the arrogance of Bruno, who wrote another two dialogues in which the "god of geometers", as he had called Mordente in the previous dialogues, was scornfully portrayed as the "Triumphant Idiot" (Idiota Triumphans…). After this violent argument, the mathematician Milles Denorry published a treatise on the compasses, L’usage et pratique du Compas à huict Poinctes [The use and operation of the eight-point compasses] (1588), popularizing the name of 8-point compass. The compasses was composed of two slender square-section legs along which slid four cursors with points orthogonal to the legs. Of the other four points, two were on the ends of the legs and two at the hinged joint. The compasses was always used with a particular geometric figure, a quadrant, to carry out proportional operations and measure fractions of degrees.

Bibliographical Resources

Bruno, Giordano. Dialogi duo de Fabricii Mordentis Salernitani propre divina adinventione ad perfectam cosmimetriae praxim, Parigi 1586.

Bruno, Giordano. Idiota Triumphans, De somnii interpretatione, Mordentius, De Mordentij circino, Parigi 1586.

Camerota, Filippo. Il Compasso di Fabrizio Mordente. Per la storia del compasso di proporzione, Firenze 2000.

Denorry, Milles. L’usage et pratique du Compas à huict Poinctes, Paris 1588.

Mordente, Fabrizio. Il Compasso e Figura di Fabritio Mordente..., Paris 1585.

Existing Instruments

- Adler Planetarium, Chicago
Chicago, Adler Planetarium, inv. M-67b

Links (External)

http://www.nicolaseverino.it/Articoli/Il_compasso_di_proporzione.pdf (Italian)

Images

Fabrizio Mordente. Il compasso e Figura di Fabritio Mordente. Parigi, 1585.

Michel Coignet. L'uso del compasso di Fabritio Mordente. ms., 1608, Modena, Biblioteca Estense, Gamma U.1.18- Campori 209, il compasso di Mordente.

Michel Coignet. L'uso del compasso di Fabritio Mordente. ms., 1608, Modena, Biblioteca Estense, Gamma U.1.18, c. 2v, il compasso di Mordente nell'uso topografico.

Author of the entry: Filippo Camerota

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