Giovanni Salvemini

Giovanni Francesco Mauro Melchiorre Salvemini di Castiglione (15 January 1708 in Castiglione del Valdarno – 11 October 1791 in Berlin) was an Italian mathematician and astronomer.

Life Salvemini was born on 15 January 1708 in Castiglione del Valdarno (currently in the province of Arezzo), Grand Duchy of Tuscany. His father, Giuseppe Salvemini of Castiglion Fiorentino, was a diplomat and jurist, and an ambassador for the Grand Duchy. His mother was Maria Maddalena Lucia Braccesi whose family came from Pisa. Salvemini was home schooled by tutors and then attended a seminary in Florence. On 16 April 1737, he formally enrolled in the Calvinist faith in Geneva. Although he had been a corresponding member since 1755, in 1764 he was elected a full member of the Prussian Academy of Sciences. He met the Scottish diarist James Boswell in both Utrecht and Berlin, with Boswell recording several anecdotes and conversations.

Mathematics In 1745, he was elected to the Royal Society. In 1765, Frederick the Great appointed him "Astronomer Royal", of the Observatory of Berlin. He received additional honours from foreign academies, was appointed a member of the Academy of Bologna in 1768, the Academy of Mannheim in 1777, the Academy of Padua in 1784, and the Academy of Prague in 1785. Succeeding Joseph-Louis Lagrange, he was appointed Director of the Mathematics Section of the Berlin Academy, a role he held until his death.

Works Discours sur l’origine de l’inégalité parmi les hommes. Pour servir de reponse au discours que M Rouseau (1756) Mémoire sur la règle de Cardan, et sur les equations cubique, avec Quelques Remarques sur les equations en général (1783) Examen philosophique de principes de quelque algebra 1790 and 1791 (memoirs)

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