89
As soon as Huggins heard from Secchi about his findings, he and other spectroscopists who had thought of making such measurements independently carefully
checked Huggins’s claims. Because Secchi had made his observations by eye
whereas Huggins had studied his photographs of the stellar spectra, Secchi was not
able to confirm either the existence or the magnitude of such Doppler effects in stellar spectra.
11
The data gradually began to agree after Hermann Carl Vogel in
Potsdam, William H.M. Christie in Greenwich, and other specialists at the Lick
Observatory and elsewhere started taking visual Doppler shift measurements with
much improved instrumentation.
12
Secchi was also highly influential in the establishment of spectroscopic research.
Together with Pietro Tacchini (1838–1905) from the well-equipped Palermo
Observatory, he co-founded the Società degli Spettroscopisti Italiani, which was
mainly devoted to the spectroscopic study of the Sun.
13
Until his death in 1878,
Secchi also largely contributed to the publication of the Memorie della Società degli
Spettroscopisti Italiani, edited by Tacchini. This journal of the Italian Spectroscopic
Society, appearing from 1872 to 1919 in print runs of about 300, accepted contributions from spectroscopists all across Europe, not only from Italy. Secchi also presided over the Italian Accademia dei Nuovi Lincei for many years. A clear
demonstration of his international acceptance was also his elections as corresponding member of the Royal Society of London and the Royal Astronomical Society, the
French Académie des Sciences (in 1857), the Bavarian Academy of Science (1867),
and the Russian Imperial Academy in St. Petersburg (1877).
5.2 Secchi and Solar Physics
The deep interest that Secchi had in solar physics is intimately linked with his work
on spectroscopy. This perhaps arose from his stay in the United States of America
in the late 1840s where he met protagonists of this new field of research, not yet
popular among European astronomers.
14
In 1848, due to the political unrest in Italy
11 In Huggins’s correspondence, the name Secchi often appears in controversial contexts: see Becker
2014, esp. letter nos. 39, 765, 897, 1010. On their dispute about these alleged Doppler shifts and
on priority, see Huggins 1876a,b vs. Secchi 1876a; see also Kayser 1902: 292 and Becker 2011.
Secchi conceded the existence of Doppler effects in stellar spectra in Secchi 1868b and 1868c: 168.
12 See Secchi 1876b about contradictory estimates, Maunder 1885: 167f., Kayser 1902: 294, 393f.
on the various sources of error, and Hearnshaw 1986: 147f. on the superiority of Vogel’s photographic measurements over the Greenwich visual estimates with typical probable errors of c.
22 km/s.
13 See Chinnici 2008 on the foundation of the Società and its quite international membership
including leading spectroscopists and astrophysicists from Britain, France, Germany, Sweden, and
the USA. On the collaboration of Secchi and Tacchini in the creation of astrophysical illustrations,
see here footnote 15.
14 On the weak status of astrophysics in mid-nineteenth-century science and on its subsequent
institutionalization, see Lankford 1981, 1997, Chinnici 2008: 394–395, 431–432. I disagree with
5 Angelo Secchi, Stellar Spectroscopy, Solar Physics, and Visual Science Culture
As soon as Huggins heard from Secchi about his findings, he and other spectroscopists who had thought of making such measurements independently carefully
checked Huggins’s claims. Because Secchi had made his observations by eye
whereas Huggins had studied his photographs of the stellar spectra, Secchi was not
able to confirm either the existence or the magnitude of such Doppler effects in stellar spectra.
11
The data gradually began to agree after Hermann Carl Vogel in
Potsdam, William H.M. Christie in Greenwich, and other specialists at the Lick
Observatory and elsewhere started taking visual Doppler shift measurements with
much improved instrumentation.
12
Secchi was also highly influential in the establishment of spectroscopic research.
Together with Pietro Tacchini (1838–1905) from the well-equipped Palermo
Observatory, he co-founded the Società degli Spettroscopisti Italiani, which was
mainly devoted to the spectroscopic study of the Sun.
13
Until his death in 1878,
Secchi also largely contributed to the publication of the Memorie della Società degli
Spettroscopisti Italiani, edited by Tacchini. This journal of the Italian Spectroscopic
Society, appearing from 1872 to 1919 in print runs of about 300, accepted contributions from spectroscopists all across Europe, not only from Italy. Secchi also presided over the Italian Accademia dei Nuovi Lincei for many years. A clear
demonstration of his international acceptance was also his elections as corresponding member of the Royal Society of London and the Royal Astronomical Society, the
French Académie des Sciences (in 1857), the Bavarian Academy of Science (1867),
and the Russian Imperial Academy in St. Petersburg (1877).
5.2 Secchi and Solar Physics
The deep interest that Secchi had in solar physics is intimately linked with his work
on spectroscopy. This perhaps arose from his stay in the United States of America
in the late 1840s where he met protagonists of this new field of research, not yet
popular among European astronomers.
14
In 1848, due to the political unrest in Italy
11 In Huggins’s correspondence, the name Secchi often appears in controversial contexts: see Becker
2014, esp. letter nos. 39, 765, 897, 1010. On their dispute about these alleged Doppler shifts and
on priority, see Huggins 1876a,b vs. Secchi 1876a; see also Kayser 1902: 292 and Becker 2011.
Secchi conceded the existence of Doppler effects in stellar spectra in Secchi 1868b and 1868c: 168.
12 See Secchi 1876b about contradictory estimates, Maunder 1885: 167f., Kayser 1902: 294, 393f.
on the various sources of error, and Hearnshaw 1986: 147f. on the superiority of Vogel’s photographic measurements over the Greenwich visual estimates with typical probable errors of c.
22 km/s.
13 See Chinnici 2008 on the foundation of the Società and its quite international membership
including leading spectroscopists and astrophysicists from Britain, France, Germany, Sweden, and
the USA. On the collaboration of Secchi and Tacchini in the creation of astrophysical illustrations,
see here footnote 15.
14 On the weak status of astrophysics in mid-nineteenth-century science and on its subsequent
institutionalization, see Lankford 1981, 1997, Chinnici 2008: 394–395, 431–432. I disagree with
5 Angelo Secchi, Stellar Spectroscopy, Solar Physics, and Visual Science Culture