296
The elected Executive Committee to erect in Reggio a scientific monument to Father
Angelo Secchi;
whereas in the long years since its establishment, the possibility has changed of creating
and managing in Reggio, immediately or in a near future, a scientific monument useful
to astronomical studies with the funds the Committee has at its disposal, given the
industrial and economic conditions for the construction of Equatorials and Observatories
according to the requirements of Science;
whereas the many attempts made by the Committee to replace a Specola with minor institutes for solar physics, astronomy, or meteorology, following suggestions and advice of
illustrious scientists such as Schiaparelli, Millosevich, Celoria and Righi, have all failed
and the events are shown in the reports already published;
whereas its clear obligation to honor with a scientific monument the memory of Father
Angelo Secchi, giving effect to the intention and willingness of the subscribers who
with this single intent collected donations from all nations;
whereas, moreover, that is not enough to just build the monument, since for it to add to the
progress to the science it must be fruitfully used;
the Committee, with regret renouncing the early purpose to institute it in Reggio because it
is impracticable, decides not to delay more in fulfilling its task, by erecting an
Astronomical Observatory named for Father Angelo Secchi on Mount Griffone, near
Bologna, with the contribution of the Royal University of Bologna. It yields the funds it
has collected, which is minimal in comparison to the large expenditure, to the University,
and it entrusts to the University the construction of the building and the operation of the
Observatory, reserving the right to make the procedures and guarantees of the contract
and to establish the rules to ensure the scientific aspects of the monument in the future.
A later sentence at the bottom of the manuscript explained what the outcome was:
Agenda presented to the Committee by Commendatore Naborre Campanini, concerning
which the Committee voted to suspend the motion.
It was a proposal for an official resolution that could finally have concluded a project started more than 40 years earlier; but the Committee did not put it to the vote,
for all the usual hesitations.
The fourth (and last) Report, dated 1921 (Relazione (4
a
) 1921: 7), said that “the
problems of the war and the troubled times that followed, and further reasons of the
special competence of the Committee, have left and still leave on the carpet” the
proposal for an Astronomical Observatory “Angelo Secchi” on Mount Grifone near
Bologna, and the Genoa proposal by Porro about the use of solar energy (of which
see below). After reiterating the two fundamental points of the 1908 Statute – the
funds collected had to be used for a “Scientific Monument” and nothing else, and it
ought to been constructed in Reggio Emilia – it recalled how in 1897 the Committee
had made contact with the Merz and Clark firms
41
and later, in 1903–1904, with
other firms, and it had finally tried to:
temper the rigor (of the Statute …) by means of negotiations with Modena University,
which unfortunately failed, and with Bologna University (those still open), which had taken
on the appearance and strength of moral commitments but which are perhaps destined to
fail, due to the economic conditions of the present time. (Relazione (4
a
) 1921: 8)
41 The text shows “Metz e Cholck.”
F. Bònoli and A. Mandrino
The elected Executive Committee to erect in Reggio a scientific monument to Father
Angelo Secchi;
whereas in the long years since its establishment, the possibility has changed of creating
and managing in Reggio, immediately or in a near future, a scientific monument useful
to astronomical studies with the funds the Committee has at its disposal, given the
industrial and economic conditions for the construction of Equatorials and Observatories
according to the requirements of Science;
whereas the many attempts made by the Committee to replace a Specola with minor institutes for solar physics, astronomy, or meteorology, following suggestions and advice of
illustrious scientists such as Schiaparelli, Millosevich, Celoria and Righi, have all failed
and the events are shown in the reports already published;
whereas its clear obligation to honor with a scientific monument the memory of Father
Angelo Secchi, giving effect to the intention and willingness of the subscribers who
with this single intent collected donations from all nations;
whereas, moreover, that is not enough to just build the monument, since for it to add to the
progress to the science it must be fruitfully used;
the Committee, with regret renouncing the early purpose to institute it in Reggio because it
is impracticable, decides not to delay more in fulfilling its task, by erecting an
Astronomical Observatory named for Father Angelo Secchi on Mount Griffone, near
Bologna, with the contribution of the Royal University of Bologna. It yields the funds it
has collected, which is minimal in comparison to the large expenditure, to the University,
and it entrusts to the University the construction of the building and the operation of the
Observatory, reserving the right to make the procedures and guarantees of the contract
and to establish the rules to ensure the scientific aspects of the monument in the future.
A later sentence at the bottom of the manuscript explained what the outcome was:
Agenda presented to the Committee by Commendatore Naborre Campanini, concerning
which the Committee voted to suspend the motion.
It was a proposal for an official resolution that could finally have concluded a project started more than 40 years earlier; but the Committee did not put it to the vote,
for all the usual hesitations.
The fourth (and last) Report, dated 1921 (Relazione (4
a
) 1921: 7), said that “the
problems of the war and the troubled times that followed, and further reasons of the
special competence of the Committee, have left and still leave on the carpet” the
proposal for an Astronomical Observatory “Angelo Secchi” on Mount Grifone near
Bologna, and the Genoa proposal by Porro about the use of solar energy (of which
see below). After reiterating the two fundamental points of the 1908 Statute – the
funds collected had to be used for a “Scientific Monument” and nothing else, and it
ought to been constructed in Reggio Emilia – it recalled how in 1897 the Committee
had made contact with the Merz and Clark firms
41
and later, in 1903–1904, with
other firms, and it had finally tried to:
temper the rigor (of the Statute …) by means of negotiations with Modena University,
which unfortunately failed, and with Bologna University (those still open), which had taken
on the appearance and strength of moral commitments but which are perhaps destined to
fail, due to the economic conditions of the present time. (Relazione (4
a
) 1921: 8)
41 The text shows “Metz e Cholck.”
F. Bònoli and A. Mandrino