Physician / astronomer / clockmaker
Giovanni de' Dondi
Also recorded as: Giovanni Dondi dall'Orologio · Giovanni Dondi
Built the Astrarium, a seven-faced astronomical clock completed around 1364.
A physician and professor in Padua, Giovanni de' Dondi spent some sixteen years building the Astrarium, a weight-driven clock displaying the motions of the Sun, Moon and five planets, with a perpetual calendar for movable feasts. The original is lost, but his treatise Tractatus Astrarii survives in manuscripts, allowing modern reconstructions.
- Country
- Italy (Padua)
- City / centre
- Padua; Pavia
- Life / active
- 1330–1388
- Status
- Historical individual
- Key people
- Giovanni de' Dondi; Jacopo de' Dondi (father)
Innovations & specialities
- Astrarium (c. 1364)
- Planetary gearing with elliptical wheels
- Calendar of movable feasts
Works by Giovanni de' Dondi in the catalogue
Open in the catalogue →
Movements & Components · 1961-1974
Electrical winding mechanism for reconstruction of Dondi clock. Reconstruction made from detailed account of astrarium written by Dondi, 1961-1974
Science Museum Group, London
Clocks · 1974
Astronomical clock by Thwaites and Reed Ltd., England, 1974
Science Museum Group, London
Clocks · 1974
Reconstruction of Dondi clock, and parts in cardboard box
Science Museum Group, London
Linked through the Atlas maker authority list, which reconciles the spellings used by different institutions. Attributions are as stated by each holding institution or auction house.
