Lorenzo Mascheroni

Who was Lorenzo Mascheroni?

Lorenzo Mascheroni was an Italian mathematician.

He was born near Bergamo, Lombardy. At first mainly interested in the humanities, he eventually became professor of mathematics at Pavia.

In his Geometria del Compasso, he proved that any geometrical construction which can be done with compass and straightedge, can also be done with compasses alone. However, the priority for this result belongs to the Dane Georg Mohr, who had previously published a proof in 1672. This problem was the source of a musical composition called "Mascheroni Circles", performed by David Stutz on the album Iolet.

In his Adnotationes ad calculum integrale Euleri he published a calculation of what is now known as the Euler–Mascheroni constant, usually denoted as γ.

He died in Paris.