CHELINI, Domenico. – Sculptor mathematician, born in Gragnano (Lucca) on 18 Oct. 1802, died in Rome on 16 Nov. 1873. He taught mathematics at the Collegio Nazareno from 1831 to 1851; thereafter, until 1864, he taught mechanics and hydraulics at the University of Bologna, where he was beloved and admired by all. Dismissed for refusing to take the oath, he was called to Rome, where he taught at the University from 1867 to 1870, when he was again dismissed for the same reason. Though later exempted from swearing the oath, he withdrew from teaching. He then taught at the Vatican University until its closure, after which he taught privately.
He wrote memoirs on analytic geometry, refining methods and approaching geometric and barycentric calculus; in surface theory, he simplified various theorems of Gauss. He authored a treatise, *Elementi di meccanica razionale* (Bologna 1860), which includes an exposition of dynamics. On the day after his death, Pope Leo XIII, in a private audience, expressed his sorrow at Chelini’s passing, calling him “a great luminary of science and of the clergy,” as skilled in sculpture as he was learned, beloved by all, yet humble and unknown to himself. A marble bust of him was erected in the Sapienza in Rome, funded by a subscription among Italian mathematicians, under the leadership of Luigi Cremona.