Francesco Capuano Di Manfredonia

Who is Francesco Capuano Di Manfredonia?

Francesco Capuano Di Manfredonia was an Italian astronomer.

He was a published professor of astronomy at Padua, Republic of Venice, then later became a bishop. At some point he became known as Johannes Baptista Capuanus si Pontinus, de Manfredonia. He wrote an influential commentary on the work Tractatus de Sphaera by Johannes de Sacrobosco. This commentary was reprinted six times, up through 1531. Francesco died around 1490.

On Giovanni Battista Riccioli's 17th century lunar map, a crater feature was named Capuanus after the astronomer. This feature was later changed to Ramsden crater. A crater to the east-southeast of Ramsden was later named Capuanus crater for him, as adopted by the International Astronomical Union in 1935.