LORENZO

MASCHERONI (1750-1800)  , Italian geometer, was professor of mathematics at the university of Pavia, and published a variety of mathematical works, the best known of which is his Geometria del compasso (Pavia, 1797), a collection of geometrical constructions in which the use of the circle alone is postulated . Many of the solutions are most ingenious, and some of the constructions of considerable practical importance . There is a French translation by A . M . Carette (Paris, 1798), who also wrote a biography of Mascheroni . See Poggendorff, Biog . Lit . Handworterbuch .