Vittorio Zonca (1568–1603) was an Italian engineer and writer. He wrote the Theater of machines, which was published in Padua in 1607 four years after his death. Some of his plates were translated into Chinese by Johann Schreck and published in the 1627 Chinese book on European mechanical arts Diagrams and explanations of the wonderful machines of the Far West. Works Vittorio Zonca Novo Teatro di Machine et Edificii, Padua 1607. Notes References Arnold Pacey The Maze of Ingenuity: Ideas and Idealism in the Development of Technology MIT Press, 1992 Francis C. Moon The Machines of Leonardo Da Vinci and Franz Reuleaux: Kinematics of Machines from the Renaissance to the 20th Century Springer, 2007 Joseph Needham, Ling Wang, Gwei-Djen Lu Science and civilisation in China Cambridge University Press, 1965 External links Vittorio Zonca (1607) Novo teatro di machine et edificii per varie et sicure operationi - digital facsimile from the Linda Hall Library 1568 births 1603 deaths Italian engineers Italian male non-fiction writers Italian science writers