GAVALIERI, Bonaventura. – A Jesuit, born in Milan probably in 1598, died in Bologna on 30 November 1647. He was introduced to mathematical studies by the Benedictine B. Castelli; he made such rapid and brilliant progress that he was later appointed professor at the University of Bologna. He is credited with: introducing logarithms to Italy, several discoveries concerning optics and mechanics, and the theory of indivisibles, which led his contemporaries to declare him a “new Archimedes.”
Among his numerous works, the following are noteworthy: *Geometria indivisibilibus continnorum nova quadam ratione promota* (Bologna 1635); *Trigonometria plana et spherica linearis et logaritlimica* (ibid. 1643).
Bibl.: G. Piola, *Rlogio* (on the occasion of the unveiling of the monument erected to G. in Milan), Milan 1844; G. Favaro, *Amici e corrispondenti di Galileo Galilei*, biography 31², in *Atti del R. Istituto veneto*, 74 (1914–15), pp. 700–67.