Joseph Solomon Delmedigo

Who was Joseph Solomon Delmedigo?

Joseph Solomon Qandia Delmedigo was a rabbi, author, physician, mathematician, and music theorist.

Born in Candia, Crete, he moved to Padua, Italy, studying medicine and taking classes with Galileo in astronomy. After graduating in 1613 he moved to Venice and spent a year in the company of Leon de Modena and Simone Luzzato. From Venice he went back to Candia and from there started traveling in the near East, reaching Alexandria and Cairo. There he went into a public contest in mathematics against a local mathematician. From Egypt he moved to Istanbul, there he observed the comet of 1619. After Istanbul he wandered along the Karaite communities in Eastern Europe, finally arriving at Amsterdam in 1623. He finally died in Prague. Yet in his lifetime wherever he sojourned he earned his living as a physician and or teacher. His only known works are Elim, dealing with mathematics, astronomy, the natural sciences, and metaphysics, as well as some letters and essays.

As Delmedigo writes in his book, he followed the lectures by Galileo Galilei, during the academic year 1609-1610. In the following years he often refers to Galilei as "rabbi Galileo". Elijah Montalto, physician of Maria de Medici, is also mentioned as one of his teachers.