Rudjer Boscovic, also known as Ruggero Giuseppe Boscovich, was a Jesuit mathematician and astronomer. He was born in Ragusa, Croatia (now Dubrovnik, Yugoslavia) on May 18, 1711, and died in Milan, Italy in February 13, 1787.

Boscovic's father was a Croatian merchant, and his mother was the daughter of a merchant originally from Italy. The family was of average means, but noted for its literary accomplishments. Boscovic began his education at the Jesuit college in Dubrovnik, and continued it in Rome, entering the novitiate of Sant'Andrea in 1725 at the age of fourteen.

Said to have been an excellent student, Boscovic first learned science through the independent study of mathematics, physics, astronomy, and geodesy.

He later studied mathematics and physics at the Collegium Romanum in Rome, where in 1740 he was appointed to the Chair in Mathematics in spite of the fact that he had not yet completed his theological studies. In 1754, he published...