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Who’s there?
Merry.
Merry who?
Merry Christmas!
Giovanni Alfonso BorelliBorn 28 Jan 1608; died 31 Dec 1679 at age 71.Italian mathematician, physiologist and physicist sometimes called “father of biomechanics.” Hewas the first to apply the laws of mechanics to the muscular action of the human body. In De motu animalium (Concerning Animal Motion, 1680), he correctly described the skeleton and muscles as a system of levers, and explained the mechanism of bird flight. He calculated the forces required for equilibrium in various joints of the body well before the mechanics of Isaac Newton. In 1649, he published a work on malignant fevers. He repudiated astrological causes of diseases and believed in chemical cures. In 1658, he published Euclidus restitutus. He made anatomical dissections, drew a diver's rebreather, investiged volcanoes, was first to suggest a parabolic path for comets, and considered Jupiter had an attractive infuence on its moons.« |
