310
1909, a young Giorgio Abetti claimed Riccò to be “the sole astrophysicist in Italy”
(Cristaldi and Mangano 1997).
Beyond these reasons, Italian participation in two international enterprises may
have worked against the development of astrophysics in that country.
The first was the Carte du Ciel, an international collaboration to produce a photographic atlas of the sky and its associated high-precision astrometric catalog. The
involvement of European astronomy in this long and demanding program is credited for the decline of astrophysics in the whole continent, as compared to the USA,
where no observatory participated (Lankford 1984). Tacchini enrolled Catania
Observatory into the collaboration (Chinnici 2009), probably hoping to obtain additional resources from the Government – it was the only Italian observatory participating in the project – but in fact diverting part of the resources of an astrophysical
institute in favor of an activity that was related to classical astronomy.
The second collaboration was the International Latitude Service, a program born
from an Italian proposal and intended to study the motion of the Earth’s rotation
axis. The Service started in 1899 and consisted of six astronomical stations which
were required to make daily measurements of the zenithal distances between pairs
of stars. The Italian station was installed at Carloforte, in Sardinia, and initially was
manned through a turnover of personnel from universities and astronomical observatories (Calledda 2005). Because of a tradition of geodetic studies and the presence of this station in Italy, a considerable fraction of Italian astronomers in the first
part of the twentieth century devoted themselves to geodetic astronomy (Rosino
1986; Proverbio 1998).
The Memorie of this period (particularly, the second series, 1911–1919) reflected
these trends, with a reduction of articles on spectroscopy, and an increase of those
related to positional astronomy (Chinnici 2008).
18.5 Passing on the Spectroscopists’ Baton: Giorgio Abetti
Meets George E. Hale
During his Italian journey in 1894, Hale visited the Arcetri Astronomical Observatory
together with Tacchini and its recently appointed director Antonio Abetti
(1846–1928). Most likely, the visit took place on April 29 (Tacchini 1894). Both
Hale (Abetti 1960) and A. Abetti (1908) retained vivid memories of that meeting.
As A. Abetti (1908) recalled, “On that occasion I mentioned my wish to establish
astrophysical solar studies here […] but I have been prevented by lack of means and
of a proper staff.” Despite these good intentions, Antonio had been trained in classical astronomy and mostly pursued observations of asteroids and comets. Moreover,
the directorship of Arcetri Observatory had been left vacant for 20 years after
Donati’s death, and it had no modern spectroscopic instrument.
It has been said that during this visit in Arcetri, Hale met Giorgio Abetti, the
12-year-old son of Antonio (Fracastoro 1983), though the event is not mentioned in
S. Bianchi
1909, a young Giorgio Abetti claimed Riccò to be “the sole astrophysicist in Italy”
(Cristaldi and Mangano 1997).
Beyond these reasons, Italian participation in two international enterprises may
have worked against the development of astrophysics in that country.
The first was the Carte du Ciel, an international collaboration to produce a photographic atlas of the sky and its associated high-precision astrometric catalog. The
involvement of European astronomy in this long and demanding program is credited for the decline of astrophysics in the whole continent, as compared to the USA,
where no observatory participated (Lankford 1984). Tacchini enrolled Catania
Observatory into the collaboration (Chinnici 2009), probably hoping to obtain additional resources from the Government – it was the only Italian observatory participating in the project – but in fact diverting part of the resources of an astrophysical
institute in favor of an activity that was related to classical astronomy.
The second collaboration was the International Latitude Service, a program born
from an Italian proposal and intended to study the motion of the Earth’s rotation
axis. The Service started in 1899 and consisted of six astronomical stations which
were required to make daily measurements of the zenithal distances between pairs
of stars. The Italian station was installed at Carloforte, in Sardinia, and initially was
manned through a turnover of personnel from universities and astronomical observatories (Calledda 2005). Because of a tradition of geodetic studies and the presence of this station in Italy, a considerable fraction of Italian astronomers in the first
part of the twentieth century devoted themselves to geodetic astronomy (Rosino
1986; Proverbio 1998).
The Memorie of this period (particularly, the second series, 1911–1919) reflected
these trends, with a reduction of articles on spectroscopy, and an increase of those
related to positional astronomy (Chinnici 2008).
18.5 Passing on the Spectroscopists’ Baton: Giorgio Abetti
Meets George E. Hale
During his Italian journey in 1894, Hale visited the Arcetri Astronomical Observatory
together with Tacchini and its recently appointed director Antonio Abetti
(1846–1928). Most likely, the visit took place on April 29 (Tacchini 1894). Both
Hale (Abetti 1960) and A. Abetti (1908) retained vivid memories of that meeting.
As A. Abetti (1908) recalled, “On that occasion I mentioned my wish to establish
astrophysical solar studies here […] but I have been prevented by lack of means and
of a proper staff.” Despite these good intentions, Antonio had been trained in classical astronomy and mostly pursued observations of asteroids and comets. Moreover,
the directorship of Arcetri Observatory had been left vacant for 20 years after
Donati’s death, and it had no modern spectroscopic instrument.
It has been said that during this visit in Arcetri, Hale met Giorgio Abetti, the
12-year-old son of Antonio (Fracastoro 1983), though the event is not mentioned in
S. Bianchi