Born Modena, (Italy), 1 June 1633
Died Padua, (Italy), 13 October 1687
Geminiano Montanari was the first to recognize the variability of Algol. The son of Giovanni Montanari and Margherita Zanasi, he was left fatherless at age 10. Montanari began his studies in Modena. After an agitated youth, at 20 he went to Florence to study law; he remained there for 3 years. After one of the frequent and violent quarrels he had during his life (to testify a strong character), Montanari left Florence and moved to Salzburg, Austria, where he took a law degree in 1656.
During a stay in Vienna, where he carried on legal practice, Montanari befriended Paolo del Buono, Galileo Galilei's pupil and Florentine diplomat at the imperial court. With his help Montanari took up mathematical and scientific studies, which always interested him.
After a long journey in Austria and the eastern Carpathians, Montanari returned to Italy in 1658, dropped law, and became astronomer to the Grand Duke of Tuscany. In...
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Bònoli, F. and E. Piliarvu (2001). I lettori di astronomia presso lo Studio di Bologna dal XII al XX secolo. Bologna: Clueb.
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Bònoli, F. (2007). Montanari, Geminiano. In: Hockey, T., et al. The Biographical Encyclopedia of Astronomers. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-30400-7_974
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