182
Unfortunately, most of the observatory including the meteorograph was destroyed
during the Japanese occupation of World War II. On February 9, 1945, four Japanese
soldiers burned the observatory along with the instruments and the library, where
thousands of books and documents concerning the observations had been kept. In a
few hours, everything was reduced to ash and smoking wreckage (Repetti 1948: 42).
10.3.3 Calcutta (1871)
Saint Xavier’s College in Calcutta was founded in 1860, and its aim was to provide
a course of studies similar to the ones of European colleges (Udías 2003: 275–276).
Several of the Jesuit teachers were accomplished scientists. Among them, the
Belgian Father Eugène Lafont (1837–1908) was probably the most outstanding figure (Biswas 1994). After having studied physics and natural sciences in Namur, he
arrived in Calcutta in 1865 and he soon installed a physics laboratory. For more than
four decades, he was a great science popularizer and a pioneer in the promotion of
science studies in Calcutta. His many public presentations, enriched with demonstrations and projections, were highly appreciated. With the encouragement and the
support of the astronomer Pietro Tacchini (1838–1905), he also established an
astronomical observatory in the college, to carry out solar spectroscopic observations (Chinnici 1995–96).
In the morning of November 1, 1867, after having noted a sharp fall of the barometric reading, he managed to broadcast immediately a public warning of an
oncoming storm. The typhoon arrived as predicted during the evening, and, in spite
of the fury of the event, Lafont managed to collect a series of meteorological data
which were subsequently published. In the same year, he organized the first meteorological observatory in Calcutta, which was installed on the terrace of the college
near the astronomical observatory.
In 1870 Lafont ordered a meteorograph in Rome, which arrived one year later.
The instrument worked well and was in operation between July 1871 and January
1884. After this date, until 1906, only the recording balance barometer was used.
Some interesting observations were made with the Calcutta meteorograph. For
example, in 1884 during the tremendous eruption of the Krakatoa volcano in the
west of Java, the balance barometer clearly recorded the pressure changes caused by
the destructive event. And in 1897, during an earthquake in Assam, the instrument
acted as a kind of rudimentary seismograph: violent displacements of the barograph
pen indicated two main and distinct events. As far as we know, the observatory was
shut down in the 1930s and the instrument does not exist anymore.
P. Brenni
Unfortunately, most of the observatory including the meteorograph was destroyed
during the Japanese occupation of World War II. On February 9, 1945, four Japanese
soldiers burned the observatory along with the instruments and the library, where
thousands of books and documents concerning the observations had been kept. In a
few hours, everything was reduced to ash and smoking wreckage (Repetti 1948: 42).
10.3.3 Calcutta (1871)
Saint Xavier’s College in Calcutta was founded in 1860, and its aim was to provide
a course of studies similar to the ones of European colleges (Udías 2003: 275–276).
Several of the Jesuit teachers were accomplished scientists. Among them, the
Belgian Father Eugène Lafont (1837–1908) was probably the most outstanding figure (Biswas 1994). After having studied physics and natural sciences in Namur, he
arrived in Calcutta in 1865 and he soon installed a physics laboratory. For more than
four decades, he was a great science popularizer and a pioneer in the promotion of
science studies in Calcutta. His many public presentations, enriched with demonstrations and projections, were highly appreciated. With the encouragement and the
support of the astronomer Pietro Tacchini (1838–1905), he also established an
astronomical observatory in the college, to carry out solar spectroscopic observations (Chinnici 1995–96).
In the morning of November 1, 1867, after having noted a sharp fall of the barometric reading, he managed to broadcast immediately a public warning of an
oncoming storm. The typhoon arrived as predicted during the evening, and, in spite
of the fury of the event, Lafont managed to collect a series of meteorological data
which were subsequently published. In the same year, he organized the first meteorological observatory in Calcutta, which was installed on the terrace of the college
near the astronomical observatory.
In 1870 Lafont ordered a meteorograph in Rome, which arrived one year later.
The instrument worked well and was in operation between July 1871 and January
1884. After this date, until 1906, only the recording balance barometer was used.
Some interesting observations were made with the Calcutta meteorograph. For
example, in 1884 during the tremendous eruption of the Krakatoa volcano in the
west of Java, the balance barometer clearly recorded the pressure changes caused by
the destructive event. And in 1897, during an earthquake in Assam, the instrument
acted as a kind of rudimentary seismograph: violent displacements of the barograph
pen indicated two main and distinct events. As far as we know, the observatory was
shut down in the 1930s and the instrument does not exist anymore.
P. Brenni