Giuseppe Moletti

Giuseppe Moletti[a] (1531–1588) was an Italian mathematician best known for his Dialogo intorno alla Meccanica (Dialogue on Mechanics).

Though an obscure figure today, he was a renowned mathematician during his lifetime, and was even consulted by Pope Gregory XIII on his new calendar.

[1] He held the mathematics chair at the University of Padua, preceding Galileo, who had sent him his theorems on the centre of gravity.

On the first day of dialogue, he offers geometrical foundations for the Pseudo-Aristotelian Mechanical Problems, establishing the principle that the further a weight is from the centre of a pivoting lever, the less force is required to move it in a circular motion.

He also wrote a book of astronomical tables, another on mathematical certainty, and a work on reform of the calendar.