295
Campanini, for the Reggio Committee, came to an agreement. A month later, Rajna
presented to the rector a report with a detailed economic plan and a detailed proposal for the scientific use of the “New Astronomical Observatory ‘Fr. Angelo
Secchi’ on Mount Grifone.”
38
Rajna’s scientific plan for the new Observatory was:
(…) a different kind of astronomical work, in which photography has recently given a vast
wealth of important results even with relatively modest instruments, is research and photographic observations of asteroids or small planets … [to collect] the observational material
indispensable for calculating their orbits. [The results could be published] first in the
Reports of some of our main scientific Academies (…) and would then be distributed as
extracts or separate booklets with a special cover, such as, “Publications of the Astrophysical
Observatory ‘Fr. Angelo Secchi’ annexed to the Specola of the Royal University of
Bologna.”
A budget of 292,000 lire was to be used for acquiring a “photographic equatorial
having a 40-cm aperture objective lens” (the size was almost half that of the 70-cm
telescope proposed by Tacchini) “and 180-cm focal length,” equipped with an
appropriate spectroscope, precision timepieces, accessories, dome, transport, books
and furnishings, land closure, custody building, guesthouse, director’s home, heating, water, light, etc. The staff would be supported by the Government.
The cost had already grown but, considering the commitment of the Bologna
University and the munificence of Merlani, the operation was still affordable. In
fact, the minutes of a meeting held in Bologna Rectorate on December 27, 1916 and
signed by the Committee president, Morandi, and the Bologna rector, Pesci, reported
that all the representatives in toto concurred on Rajna’s project. The Committee was
committed to communicate to the rector the amount available, the University was
“obliged to make sure that the Observatory itself would be developed, through the
funds provided by Reggio Committee,” and both institutions would complete the
necessary arrangements at the relevant Ministries.
39
The whole project could be
accomplished, thanks to “the generous initiative (of Merlani) and the enlightened
intervention of the meritorious Reggio Emilia’s Committee.”
17.10 The Postwar Situation
But the ongoing war and then postwar problems diverted attention from the
building of an astronomical station. The matter came back up in 1920, four years
later, in a document which is here reprinted in its entirety:
40
June (or July) 1920
38 Ivi, B.29.6.2.
39 Ivi, B.29.6.3.
40 Ivi, B.29.6.4.
17 The Unfulfilled “Secchi Monument” at Reggio Emilia
Campanini, for the Reggio Committee, came to an agreement. A month later, Rajna
presented to the rector a report with a detailed economic plan and a detailed proposal for the scientific use of the “New Astronomical Observatory ‘Fr. Angelo
Secchi’ on Mount Grifone.”
38
Rajna’s scientific plan for the new Observatory was:
(…) a different kind of astronomical work, in which photography has recently given a vast
wealth of important results even with relatively modest instruments, is research and photographic observations of asteroids or small planets … [to collect] the observational material
indispensable for calculating their orbits. [The results could be published] first in the
Reports of some of our main scientific Academies (…) and would then be distributed as
extracts or separate booklets with a special cover, such as, “Publications of the Astrophysical
Observatory ‘Fr. Angelo Secchi’ annexed to the Specola of the Royal University of
Bologna.”
A budget of 292,000 lire was to be used for acquiring a “photographic equatorial
having a 40-cm aperture objective lens” (the size was almost half that of the 70-cm
telescope proposed by Tacchini) “and 180-cm focal length,” equipped with an
appropriate spectroscope, precision timepieces, accessories, dome, transport, books
and furnishings, land closure, custody building, guesthouse, director’s home, heating, water, light, etc. The staff would be supported by the Government.
The cost had already grown but, considering the commitment of the Bologna
University and the munificence of Merlani, the operation was still affordable. In
fact, the minutes of a meeting held in Bologna Rectorate on December 27, 1916 and
signed by the Committee president, Morandi, and the Bologna rector, Pesci, reported
that all the representatives in toto concurred on Rajna’s project. The Committee was
committed to communicate to the rector the amount available, the University was
“obliged to make sure that the Observatory itself would be developed, through the
funds provided by Reggio Committee,” and both institutions would complete the
necessary arrangements at the relevant Ministries.
39
The whole project could be
accomplished, thanks to “the generous initiative (of Merlani) and the enlightened
intervention of the meritorious Reggio Emilia’s Committee.”
17.10 The Postwar Situation
But the ongoing war and then postwar problems diverted attention from the
building of an astronomical station. The matter came back up in 1920, four years
later, in a document which is here reprinted in its entirety:
40
June (or July) 1920
38 Ivi, B.29.6.2.
39 Ivi, B.29.6.3.
40 Ivi, B.29.6.4.
17 The Unfulfilled “Secchi Monument” at Reggio Emilia