Giordano Riccati was born in 1709 in
Castelfranco Veneto, a small town about 30 km north of
Padua. He was the brother of
Vincenzo Riccati and the fifth son of the theoretical mechanician
Jacopo Riccati. He began his studies at the College of St. Francis Xavier in Bologna, under the guidance of
Francesco Saverio Quadrio and Luigi Marchenti, a pupil of the French mathematician
Pierre Varignon. In 1727, he returned to Castelfranco, where his father taught him
geometry,
trigonometry,
calculus,
statics and
dynamics. He then moved to the
University of Padua and attended
Giovanni Poleni's lessons on
hydraulics as well as the lectures of the famous physician and naturalist
Antonio Vallisneri. A
polymath with a vast range of interests, Riccati published treatises on mathematics,
architecture,
acoustics,
music theory,
history and
metaphysics. He made significant contributions in the field of
physics and
mathematics applied to
music, publishing the
Saggio sulle leggi del contrappunto [Essay on the laws of counterpoint], which tried to prove that music is not just an art, but it is a science as well, a
Trattato delle corde, ovvero delle Fibre Elastiche [Treaty on chords; on elastic fibers], and some studies on the works of
Tartini and
Rameau. Giordano helped with the improvements to the
Cathedral of Treviso. He died in Treviso on July 20, 1790 and was buried in his family chapel in the Cathedral of Treviso. Riccati was a member of the
Accademia Galileiana of Padua, of the
Academy of Sciences of the Institute of Bologna and of the Italian
National Academy of Sciences. Riccati corresponded regularly with the finest scholars of the period and cultivated a circle of friends with similar interestsintellectuals, artists, and writers who often gathered at his house. He enjoyed a close friendship with the architect
Francesco Maria Preti, whose treatise
Elementi di architettura he edited after Preti's death. == Contributions ==