Rafael Bombelli was a famous mathematician most noted for his work with imaginary numbers. He was born on January of 1526 in Bologna, Papal States (now Italy), and he passed away in 1572. Bombelli's father was Antonio Mazzoli, but he eventually changed his name to Bombelli [1].
In 1443, the Bentivoglio family ruled over Bologna. Sante Bentivoglio was the "lord" of Bologna from 1443, and he was succeeded by Giovanni II Bentivoglio. Giovanni II improved the city by developing its waterways. The Mazzoli family supported the Bentivoglio family, but in 1506 Pope Julius II took control of Bologna, and he drove the Bentivoglio family away from Bologna. Antonio Mazzoli's grandfather continued to support the Bentivoglio family, but he, along with many other who attempted rebellion against Julius II, was executed. For a long time, the Mazzoli family suffered and their land taken from them, but eventually Antonio Mazzoli had the property returned to him and his family [1].
Antonio Bombelli was a wool merchant, but not much information about finances was recorded [2]. He carried on his work as a wool merchant and married Diamante Scudieri, a tailor's daughter. Rafael Bombelli was their eldest son out of six children [1]. Rafael received no university education, and all that is really known about his education is that his teacher was Pier Francesco Clementi of Corinaldo, an engineer-architect who drained swamps [2]. Rafael became a patron of Alessandro Rufini, a Roman noble later to become the Bishop of Melfi [1].
References:
[1] O'Connor, J., Robertson, E., Rafael Bombelli. JOC/EFR, 2000. http://www-history.mcs.st-and.ac.uk/Biographies/Bombelli.html
[2] Helden, A., Bombelli Rafael. The Galileo Project, 1995. http://galileo.rice.edu/Catalog/NewFiles/bombelli.html
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