What if someone told you that invisible air is actually pressing down on your head right now?

The Day a Genius Astronomer Was Born!

Meet Evangelista Torricelli, the man who discovered air has weight!

Evangelista Torricelli was born in 1608 and invented the barometer to measure air pressure!

On October 8, 1608, a baby boy named Evangelista Torricelli was born in Faenza, Italy. Little did anyone know that this curious kid would grow up to make one of the coolest scientific discoveries ever!

Imagine this: You're surrounded by invisible air all the time, right? But did you know that air actually pushes down on you? Torricelli was the first person to prove it!

As a young man, Torricelli was super interested in math and science. He was so brilliant that the famous Galileo Galilei invited him to be his assistant. How awesome would it be to work with one of history's greatest scientists?

But Torricelli's biggest moment came when he invented something called the barometer. He filled a glass tube with liquid mercury, flipped it upside down in a dish, and watched something amazing happen. The mercury didn't all pour out! Something invisible was pushing down on it and holding it up.

💡 The air pressing down on you right now weighs about as much as a small car! Torricelli was the first to prove that air has weight.