Person
Niccolò Fontana Tartaglia
Italian mathematician, engineer, surveyor, and bookkeeper
Niccolò Fontana Tartaglia (1499/1500, Brescia, Italy – 13 December 1557, Venice, Italy) is a mathematician, an engineer (designing fortifications), a surveyor (of topography, seeking the best means of defense or offense) and a bookkeeper from the then-Republic of Venice (now part of Italy).
He publishes many books, including the first Italian translations of Archimedes and Euclid, and an acclaimed compilation of mathematics.
Tartaglia is the first to apply mathematics to the investigation of the paths of cannonballs; his work is later validated by Galileo's studies on falling bodies.