Robert Southwell and Vincenzio Viviani: Their friendship and an attempt at Italian–English scientific collaboration

Vincenzio Viviani (1622–1703), mathematician and philosopher to the Grand Ducal Court in Tuscany, met Robert Southwell (1635–1702), Anglo-Irish gentleman with political aspirations and an interest in natural philosophy, in Florence in the winter of 1660. They became friends on the basis of their shared interests in mathematics and experiments. Their correspondence over almost forty years reveals that their friendship proved mutually beneficial: Southwell publicized Viviani’s work in England and Viviani urged his employers to recommend Southwell to King Charles II. In the early 1660s, they also hoped that their friendship would extend itself into collaboration between the Royal Society of London and the Accademia del Cimento in Florence.