Am. Philosophical Society

Cardinal Pietro Ottoboni (1667-1740) and the Vatican tomb of Pope Alexander VIII.

A month after he was elected Pope Alexander VIII in October 1689, Pietry Vito Ottoboni appointed his young nephew, also Pietro Ottoboni, as Cardinal and Vice-Chancellor of the church. Alexander died 16 months later, and Cardinal Ottoboni soon began preparations for a tomb for his uncle. Olszewski (art history, Case Western Reserve U., Ohio) explores what the impressive monument reveals about the process of commissioning art, the workings of the late Baroque studio, the Venetian presence in the Vatican court, and Ottoboni pretensions in the family's new Roman context. (Annotation ©2006 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Descartes and the hyperbolic quest; lens making machines and their significance in the seventeenth century.

In 1629, René Descartes described a machine for grinding lenses to shape of a hyperbola in order to make a more powerful telescope. Burnett (history, Princeton U.) examines this machine, its conception, the labor expended on its realization, and ultimately its resilient legacy within the broader context of 17th-century optics, instrument making, and mechanical craftsmanship. (Annotation ©2006 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)