Gerbert of Aurillac (c. 940–1003)

Gerbert of Aurillac represents one of the most relevant personalities of the European medieval culture, being a prolific scholar as well as an acknowledged teacher especially as tutor of Emperors Otto II and Otto III. A disciple himself of Atto, during his long and successful career, first as a teacher in Reim’s Cathedral School, then as Abbot of the monastery of Bobbio, Archbishop of Ravenna and finally as Pope Silvestre II (999–1003), Gerbert always encouraged and promoted the study of the quadrivium (arithmetic, geometry, music and astronomy) also through the reintroduction to western Europe of ancient Greek-Roman scientific culture, especially in the augmented Arab versions. Gerbert’s influence on western scientific thought refers not only to theory (i.e. the arabs’ decimal numeral system or some of Euclid’s theorems) being instead always balanced with practical applications that involve instruments (abacus, armillary sphere, astrolabe, etc.) and that immediately affect the lives of common people.