Boscovich (Ruggero Giuseppe)

Dissertatio de Maris Aestu, FIRST EDITION, large woodcut device on title, woodcut head-piece and initial, occasional spotting, modern bookplate to front flyleaf, contemporary vellum boards, soiled, [Riccardi I, 175], 8vo, Komarek, Rome, 1747.

*** Important astronomical and physical dissertation by the Jesuit and scientist, who is considered one of the fathers of atomic physics. Boscovich (1711-1787) was born at Ragusa (Dubrovnik), in Dalmatia. He spent most of his life in Italy as professor of mathematics at the Collegium Romanum in Rome and at the University of Pavia, and later as director of the Observatory in Milan. He also held academic positions in Vienna and Paris. The dissertation had been discussed at the Collegium Romanum between 1742 and 1754 and reveals Boscovich's acquaintance with the best European scientific literature of his time.