Scientist were involved in an argument of whether vacuum could exist. Many scientists held on to the Aristotelian theory that vacuum was impossible. (Why did Aristotle believed this way?)

In 1613, Galileo Galilei (1564 – 1642) proposed and subsequently proved that air had both weight and density. As a result, for the first time, air was considered a substance with a specific weight. This brought about the further assumption that air could in some way, be removed from a given space

Evangelista Torricelli, a physicist and mathematician was born in Italy. In 1641, Evangelista Torricelli moved to Florence to assist the astronomer Galileo. It was Galileo that suggested Evangelista Torricelli use mercury in his vacuum experiments. Evangelista Torricelli became the first scientist to create a sustained vacuum