MASCHERONI, LORENZO. - Priest, poet, and mathematician, born at Castagneta (Bergamo) on 13 May 1750, died in Paris on 14 July 1800. He taught eloquence and then physics at the Seminary of Bergamo. Subsequently he held the chair of algebra and geometry at the University of Pavia, of which he became rector twice. He was elected deputy to the Legislative Body of the Cisalpine Republic, drawing up a plan for public education, and in Paris he was a member of the Commission charged with drafting the new system of weights and measures.
Author of valuable memoirs of a scientific character, M. composed, in Italian and Latin, numerous occasional and sacred verses, including the poem in Italian hexameters La fabbricazione degli strumenti de' martiri. Some of his poems are inspired by sentiments of sincere religious feeling. In the sermon in terza rima La falsa eloquenza del pulpito, he advocates a type of sacred eloquence more sober and more closely adhering to the sacred texts. His fame rests upon the didactic poem L'invito a Lesbia Cidonia, the Bergamasque noblewoman and poet Paolina Secco Suardi Grismondi, inviting her to visit the scientific museums of the University of Pavia,
through which the poet guides her with learned elegance. The upright character of M. was extolled by Monti in the poem La Mascheroniana.