186
Benito Viñes Martorell (1837–1893) became director of the observatory and he
maintained this position for 23 years. From the beginning he strove to improve the
equipment as well as the meteorological observations. Viñes was an internationally
renowned scholar and a pioneer in the study of cyclones. He was the first to be able
to forecast the arrival of a particularly violent cyclone in 1875. To improve his
observations, he acquired a Secchi meteorograph which began to be used in May
1873 (Ramos Gadalupe 2007) (Fig. 10.6).
It was the simplified (and more economical) model proposed by Brassart, labeled
as No. 6. The instrument, unlike other meteorographs, worked very well for several
decades until 1925.
The college was moved to Miami, Florida, in 1961 when religious teaching was
abolished in Cuba, and the instruments were distributed (with no written record) to
other institutions. It appears that at that time the meteorograph, which was totally
obsolete, was stored in a warehouse where its metallic mechanical parts were
removed and disappeared; only the original wooden enclosure was reused (Prof.
Louis Enrique Ramos, private communication).
Recently a group of experts and passionate scholars have been able to reconstruct
a replica of the instrument used by Padre Vines, based on significant research examining historical documents and the meteorograph in Rome. This is now on display
in the Observatorio del Convento di Belén which was inaugurated in 2017, thanks
to the Oficina del Historiador de la Ciudad de La Habana. Because of technical
reasons, the apparatus is only partially functional (Fig. 10.7).
1
10.3.6 Zi-Ka-Wei (1874)
In Zi-Ka-Wei (today Xujiahui, a historic area of commerce and culture administratively within Xuhui District of Shanghai), Father Augustin Colombel (1833–1905)
started meteorological observations in 1872 (Deschevrens 1876; Vregilles 1906:
493–503; Udias 2003: 276–281). A year later, a meteorological observatory was
erected and, in 1874, a Secchi meteorograph arrived in Zi-Ka-Wei. The apparatus
was Brassart’s simplified version, without the recording psychrometer (Fig. 10.8).
In 1906, Vregilles asserted that this meteorograph was the one which had been
originally exhibited in Paris in 1867 (Vregilles 1906: 501). He argued that the apparatus, after the exhibition, was given to the Collège St. Geneviève in Paris, and a few
years later, the latter donated it to the Zi-Ka-Wei Observatory. That is not correct:
though it is true that the Paris meteorograph was installed for a certain time at St.
Geneviève, it was ultimately returned to Secchi at the Collegio Romano and today
is displayed in the Museum of INAF-Rome Astronomical Observatory at Monte
1 See http://www.eusebioleal.cu/noticia/la-restauracion-es-para-el-ser-humano/; http://www.
opushabana.cu/index.php/2014-06-05-21-29-20/28-articulos/1719- and http://www.habanaradio.
cu/patrimonio/una-obra-monumental-el-museo-observatorio-del-convento-de-belen/
(accessed
20.3.2020).
P. Brenni
Benito Viñes Martorell (1837–1893) became director of the observatory and he
maintained this position for 23 years. From the beginning he strove to improve the
equipment as well as the meteorological observations. Viñes was an internationally
renowned scholar and a pioneer in the study of cyclones. He was the first to be able
to forecast the arrival of a particularly violent cyclone in 1875. To improve his
observations, he acquired a Secchi meteorograph which began to be used in May
1873 (Ramos Gadalupe 2007) (Fig. 10.6).
It was the simplified (and more economical) model proposed by Brassart, labeled
as No. 6. The instrument, unlike other meteorographs, worked very well for several
decades until 1925.
The college was moved to Miami, Florida, in 1961 when religious teaching was
abolished in Cuba, and the instruments were distributed (with no written record) to
other institutions. It appears that at that time the meteorograph, which was totally
obsolete, was stored in a warehouse where its metallic mechanical parts were
removed and disappeared; only the original wooden enclosure was reused (Prof.
Louis Enrique Ramos, private communication).
Recently a group of experts and passionate scholars have been able to reconstruct
a replica of the instrument used by Padre Vines, based on significant research examining historical documents and the meteorograph in Rome. This is now on display
in the Observatorio del Convento di Belén which was inaugurated in 2017, thanks
to the Oficina del Historiador de la Ciudad de La Habana. Because of technical
reasons, the apparatus is only partially functional (Fig. 10.7).
1
10.3.6 Zi-Ka-Wei (1874)
In Zi-Ka-Wei (today Xujiahui, a historic area of commerce and culture administratively within Xuhui District of Shanghai), Father Augustin Colombel (1833–1905)
started meteorological observations in 1872 (Deschevrens 1876; Vregilles 1906:
493–503; Udias 2003: 276–281). A year later, a meteorological observatory was
erected and, in 1874, a Secchi meteorograph arrived in Zi-Ka-Wei. The apparatus
was Brassart’s simplified version, without the recording psychrometer (Fig. 10.8).
In 1906, Vregilles asserted that this meteorograph was the one which had been
originally exhibited in Paris in 1867 (Vregilles 1906: 501). He argued that the apparatus, after the exhibition, was given to the Collège St. Geneviève in Paris, and a few
years later, the latter donated it to the Zi-Ka-Wei Observatory. That is not correct:
though it is true that the Paris meteorograph was installed for a certain time at St.
Geneviève, it was ultimately returned to Secchi at the Collegio Romano and today
is displayed in the Museum of INAF-Rome Astronomical Observatory at Monte
1 See http://www.eusebioleal.cu/noticia/la-restauracion-es-para-el-ser-humano/; http://www.
opushabana.cu/index.php/2014-06-05-21-29-20/28-articulos/1719- and http://www.habanaradio.
cu/patrimonio/una-obra-monumental-el-museo-observatorio-del-convento-de-belen/
(accessed
20.3.2020).
P. Brenni