Chapter Seven: Francesco Maurolico and Equal Moments

Francesco Maurolico adopted the program of the Mechanical Problems, but sought its foundations in his version of Archimedes’ theory of equilibrium, the theory of equal moments. He developed this theory in his De momentis aequalibus (written in the 1540s but published only in 1685), and applied it and the theory of centres of gravity in a commentary on the Mechanical Problems written before 1567 but printed only in 1613. To this commentary he added explanations of many more devices of various kinds, only some of which could be explained through Archimedean principles.