ALGAROTTI, Francesco

(Venice 1712 - Pisa 1764), celebrated polymath, became famous for a short book which divulged Newton's experiments (Il Neutonianismo per le dame, 1737). He travelled extensively throughout Europe, became an intimate friend of King Frederick II of Prussia, and visited Russia which he described in his Viaggi di Russia. His sojourns in England (1736,1738-39), during which he met Lady Montagu, Lord Hervey, Lord Burlington e A. Pope, are described in some letters and are referred to in many of his works. Member of the Royal Society and of the Society of Antiquaries (1736), Corresponding Member of the London Society of Arts since 1762. DBI, ODNB, Allen-Abbott 1992, pp. 253-264 e p. 409 n. 5.