225
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
I. Chinnici, G. Consolmagno (eds.), Angelo Secchi and Nineteenth Century Science,
Historical & Cultural Astronomy, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-58384-2_14
Chapter 14
Angelo Secchi and the Development
of Geophysics in Italy
Alessio Argentieri and Maurizio Parotto
14.1 Introduction: Geological Disciplines in Rome
in the Nineteenth Century
In order to understand Secchi’s role in the progress of modern Earth Sciences, it is
useful to first outline the cultural framework in Rome and in the Papal States during
the age he lived in.
Since the early nineteenth century, the Papal States had supported the study of
mineralogy. In 1804, during the pontificate of Pope Pius VII, the general treasurer
Cardinal Alessandro Lante Montefeltro Della Rovere (1762–1818) appointed Father
Carlo Giuseppe Gismondi (1762–1824), belonging to the Scolopian (Piarist) order
and teacher at the Nazareno College, as the first chair of mineralogy at La Sapienza
University (Studium Urbis). Gismondi had scientific relationships with important
scholars of his time, like Gian Battista Brocchi, René Just Haüy, Étienne Borson,
and Ruggero Monticelli (Morichini 1825). After his death, his successors were,
consecutively: Pietro Carpi (1792–1861), appointed in 1824; Vincenzo Sanguinetti,
appointed in 1861; Giuseppe Ponzi (1805–1885), from 1864; and then the German
geologist Johann Strüver, from 1873 (Grubessi 2004; Matteucci 2012). Geology
A. Argentieri (*)
Città Metropolitana di Roma Capitale- Dipartimento VI “Pianificazione strategica generale” –
Servizio 3 “Geologico e difesa del suolo, protezione civile in ambito metropolitano”,
Rome, Italy
Società Geologica Italiana- Sezione di Storia delle Geoscienze, Rome, Italy
e-mail: a.argentieri@cittametropolitanaroma.gov.it
M. Parotto
Società Geologica Italiana- Sezione di Storia delle Geoscienze, Rome, Italy
Università degli Studi Roma TRE, Rome, Italy
e-mail: silvmau.parotto@gmail.com
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
I. Chinnici, G. Consolmagno (eds.), Angelo Secchi and Nineteenth Century Science,
Historical & Cultural Astronomy, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-58384-2_14
Chapter 14
Angelo Secchi and the Development
of Geophysics in Italy
Alessio Argentieri and Maurizio Parotto
14.1 Introduction: Geological Disciplines in Rome
in the Nineteenth Century
In order to understand Secchi’s role in the progress of modern Earth Sciences, it is
useful to first outline the cultural framework in Rome and in the Papal States during
the age he lived in.
Since the early nineteenth century, the Papal States had supported the study of
mineralogy. In 1804, during the pontificate of Pope Pius VII, the general treasurer
Cardinal Alessandro Lante Montefeltro Della Rovere (1762–1818) appointed Father
Carlo Giuseppe Gismondi (1762–1824), belonging to the Scolopian (Piarist) order
and teacher at the Nazareno College, as the first chair of mineralogy at La Sapienza
University (Studium Urbis). Gismondi had scientific relationships with important
scholars of his time, like Gian Battista Brocchi, René Just Haüy, Étienne Borson,
and Ruggero Monticelli (Morichini 1825). After his death, his successors were,
consecutively: Pietro Carpi (1792–1861), appointed in 1824; Vincenzo Sanguinetti,
appointed in 1861; Giuseppe Ponzi (1805–1885), from 1864; and then the German
geologist Johann Strüver, from 1873 (Grubessi 2004; Matteucci 2012). Geology
A. Argentieri (*)
Città Metropolitana di Roma Capitale- Dipartimento VI “Pianificazione strategica generale” –
Servizio 3 “Geologico e difesa del suolo, protezione civile in ambito metropolitano”,
Rome, Italy
Società Geologica Italiana- Sezione di Storia delle Geoscienze, Rome, Italy
e-mail: a.argentieri@cittametropolitanaroma.gov.it
M. Parotto
Società Geologica Italiana- Sezione di Storia delle Geoscienze, Rome, Italy
Università degli Studi Roma TRE, Rome, Italy
e-mail: silvmau.parotto@gmail.com