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Saving Michelangelo's dome : how three mathematicians and a pope sparked an architectural revolution
Kalayjian, Wayne2024
Books, Manuscripts
1742: the famous dome atop Saint Peter's Basilica, designed by Michelangelo, is fractured and threatened with collapse. The dome is the pride of Italy and the largest of its kind anywhere in the world. And no one knows how to fix it. This engaging and colourful narrative tells the overlooked story of how Michelangelo's Dome was saved from disaster by three mathematicians and Pope Benedict XIV, who had asked them for help. It is a gripping story of decisive leadership, crisis management, and scientific innovation, and the resistance that was faced when sailing into the headwinds of conventional thought. In Saving Michelangelo's Dome, Stanford-trained engineer Wayne Kalayjian illustrates how new ideas in science and mathematics established an entirely new way of looking at the world--as well as solving its complex problems. In the end, readers will appreciate that in saving Michelangelo's Dome from collapse, these three mathematicians and one determined pope unknowingly invented the profession of engineering as we practice it today. With it, they transformed the architectural world and ushered in generations of future buildings and structures that, otherwise, would never have been built.
Main title:
Author:
Edition:
First Pegasus Books cloth edition.
Imprint:
New York : Pegasus Books, 2024.
Collation:
278 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations, portraits (chiefly colour) ; 24 cm.
Notes:
Includes bibliographical references (pages 225-235) and index.
ISBN:
9781639365869 (hardback)
Dewey class:
726.5094
Language:
English
Subject:
Michelangelo Buonarroti, 1475-1564Benedict, Pope XIV, 1675-1758Poleni, Giovanni, 1683-1761Vanvitelli, Luigi, 1700-1773Fuga, Ferdinando, 1699-1782Salvi, NicolaBasilica di San Pietro in VaticanoArchitecture, Modern -- 18th centuryBuildings -- Vatican CityChurch architecture -- Vatican CityDomes -- Vatican City -- Design and constructionStructural engineering -- HistoryArchitects -- ItalyMathematicians -- ItalyVatican City -- Buildings, structures, etcVatican City
BRN:
460983
More Information:
| Location | Collection | Call number | Status/Desc |
|---|---|---|---|
| Penrith | Nonfiction | 726.5094 SAV | Available |