Inventor of the barometer: Who is Evangelista Torricelli?

He was born on 15 October 1608 in Faenza, Italy. He attracted attention with his interest in mathematics in his childhood. He went to Rome in 1627 and worked with Benedetto Castelli, the founder of hydraulic science and a student of Galilee. In 1632 he began to correspond with Galileo. In 1641, on Castelli's advice, Galileo invited Toricelli to Tuscany. A few weeks after meeting with Galilee, Galileo died. The grand duke of Tuscany appointed Toricelli to the office of Galilee.

Evangelista Torricelli (15 October 1608 – 25 October 1647) was an Italian physicist and mathematician, and a student of Galileo. He is best known for his invention of the barometer but is also known for his advances in optics and work on the method of indivisibles. The Torr is named after him.

In 1644 he published a book on geometry and mechanics. Filling an important gap in the field of mathematics, this book also concluded Galileo's first work on mechanics.

Torricelli continued his experiments on open-air pressure while doing this work. As a result of his experiments with mercury-filled tubes by making use of pressure, he determined the pressure falling to 1 cm2 at sea level as 1033 gr/cm2.

At first, no one cared about his ideas in geometry and mechanics. Toricelli also worked on developing his teacher Galileo's telescope and his own microscope. He died in Florence on October 25, 1647.

The value of the unpublished mathematics book was only realized at the beginning of this century. His book, Academic Studies, was published several times after his death.

What is a barometer?

A barometer is an instrument that measures the pressure of the air. Air pressure changes are read with a barometer and the condition of the air is tried to be understood from the pressure change movements. In times when meteorological reports could not be made with the help of technology like today and when reports were difficult to reach at sea, sailors could understand the weather by reading the changes in the barometer.

The device that the Italian scientist Evangelista Toriçelli set up in his experiment in 1643 to prove that air has weight is also known as the invention of the barometer.

Torricelli created the first barometer, thinking of replacing water with mercury (liquid metal), which is thirteen and a half times heavier than it; It is a 100cm long glass tube (the diameter of the tube does not matter) with one end plugged and filled with mercury to the brim. This tube is turned upside down and the open end is immersed in a bath filled with mercury. Some of the mercury in the pipe flows into the tub, and the column of mercury goes down to about 760 millimeters inside the pipe. In another saying; If the air (atmosphere) has no weight, some mercury is pushed up in the tube due to the pressure exerted by the mercury in the tube, which must be completely discharged into the mercury bowl. As a result of his experiments with mercury-filled tubes by making use of pressure, he determined the pressure falling to 1 cm² at sea level as 1033 gr/cm². Torricelli invented the device now called the mercury barometer to measure air pressure in 1643.