Evangelista Torricelli’s (1608–47) solid is defined by rotating the hyperbola $y = 1/x$ about the $x$ axis and truncating it at $x=1$ (see attached image).
It has infinite length and infinite surface area but finite volume.
This counter-intuitive discovery caused philosophical disturbance, for it seemed to violate the distinction between finite and infinite.
Torricelli, foreseeing the scrutiny to which his work would be subjected, took the precaution of preempting some criticisms by supplying two different proofs, one by ‘indivisibles’, one by exhaustion.
But René Descartes (1596–1650) seems not to have been provoked to any philosophical objections and thought that Torricelli's discovery was beautiful.
Henry Needler (fl. 1690–1718), a perhaps slightly obscure figure who foreshadowed 18th-century discussions of the sublime, seemed to be impressed by the solid's ‘Grandeur and Magnificence’ and thought that it would ‘afford the greatest Delight and Satisfaction to curious Minds’.
(Today, Torricelli's solid is also called ‘Gabriel's horn’ or ‘Torricelli's trumpet’.)
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Tal dia com avui, però del 1650, va morir en René Descartes "Renatus Cartesius" (físic, militar, filòsof, polímata, escriptor, astrònom, musicòleg, matemàtic, epistològraf, automatista i teòric musical)
“Es governa millor dictant poques lleis i fent-les complir rigorosament”❗❗❗
“La multitud de lleis proporciona sovint excuses als vicis”❗❗❗
René Descartes
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