M Moletti, Giuseppe Born: 1 May 1531, Messina Died: 25 March 1588, Padua Lorenzo Filippo Bacchini Department of German and Roman Languages and Literatures, John Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA Abstract Giuseppe Moletti was a nobleman, born in Messina, Sicily, in 1531. He was a renowned mathematician, cosmographer, and geographer during his lifetime and is best known for his Dialogo intorno alla Meccanica (Dialogue on Mechanics) (1576). He lived in Venice (1560–1570) practicing medicine, was the tutor of the Duke of Mantua Guglielmo Gonzaga’ s son for 7 years (1570–1577), and, finally, until his death, he held the Chair of Mathematics at the University of Padua (1577–1588), following Pietro Catena and preceding Galileo Galilei. During his time in Padua, Moletti was connected with many of the major scholars of his time and was a pivotal figure in the transformation of Aristotelian mechanics into a mathematical science in the generation before Galileo Galilei. He also com- piled Ephemerides (astronomic tables) and was appointed, by the Senate of Venice and Pope Gregory XIII, to be one of the reformers of the new ecclesiastical calendar. He died in Padua in 1588 and was buried in the Church of Saint Francis, close to the University. Alternate Names ▶ Gioseppe Moleto; ▶ Giuseppe Moleto; ▶ Josephus Moletius; ▶ Molati; ▶ Moleta; ▶ Moleti Biography Giuseppe Moletti was born in Messina, in 1531, into a fallen noble family. He studied at the Collegio of the Society of Jesus in Messina, where he was a student of Francesco Maurolico. Before 1560, he left Sicily for Padua, where he probably received a first academic degree study- ing with Pietro Catena and Francesco Barozzi. After a brief stay in Verona, where he taught as a private geometry and astronomy tutor, he moved to Venice, where he practiced as a doctor and devoted his time to teaching and researching. During this time in Venice, he published his first works on geography, astronomy and geometry. In 1561, he published for the first time, as an appendix to Girolmo Ruscelli’ s Italian translation of Ptolemy’ s Geography , his Discorso universale ... nel qual son raccolti e dichiarati tutti i termini e tutte le regole appartenenti alla Geografia. In 1562, he published a new edition of # Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2019 M. Sgarbi (ed.), Encyclopedia of Renaissance Philosophy , https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-02848-4_73-1