311
Giorgio’s recollections of his memories and correspondence with the “Maestro”
Hale (Abetti 1960). However, Giorgio soon showed an interest in astronomy, helping his father with observations and seeking advice from his father’s colleague,
Lorenzoni, director of Padua Observatory, where Abetti senior had started his career.
Lorenzoni, after an initial interest in spectroscopy, mainly worked in geodesy
and gravimetry. He frequently discussed Giorgio’s future with Antonio Abetti, hoping he would pursue a career in more modern fields of astronomy. In 1901, at the
start of Giorgio’s academic studies, Antonio worried about his son’s interest in
Galileo and the history of astronomy (which continued for the rest of his life); he
commented to Lorenzoni: “I dream of seeing him as an observer, experimenter,
alive more than ever among the living in this dizzying race of electricity, photography, spectroscopy (a.t.).” In 1909, when Giorgio was already visiting the USA, an
aging Lorenzoni wrote not without a touch of melancholia: “Lucky is he who is
given the power to acquire with relative ease a heap of practical knowledge, which
will allow him to cultivate astrophysics, or better solar physics, with a success worthy of our best local traditions (a.t.)” (Bianchi and Gasperini 2017).
During his studies at Padua University, where he got a degree in physics in 1904,
Giorgio Abetti “read with deep admiration and interest about the work Hale was
doing in the field of solar physics” (Abetti 1960). In 1905 he wrote Hale to ask if
there was any position opening in US observatories “to see the marvellous strides
made by the astronomers in the States in Astrophysics.” Hale replied that he was
aware of none, particularly not at that moment at Mount Wilson in California, the
new high-altitude observatory he had established a year earlier (Foderà Serio 2005).
Nevertheless, Abetti managed to achieve his “American dream.” On an Italian
grant, in July 1908 he arrived at Yerkes Observatory, where he observed solar prominences with a Rumford spectroheliograph, together with the assistant Philip Fox
(1878–1944) (Fig. 18.2). These observations were presented in the first astrophysical paper by Abetti (Fox and Abetti 1908), which was published in the Memorie.
During his residence at Yerkes, Abetti studied the progress of astrophysics in the
USA (a couple of reviews of works by Hale were published that year in the
Memorie). He was particularly impressed by the “tower telescope” (Abetti called it
“solar tower”; Abetti 1909), a vertical telescope of large focal length for solar spectroscopic studies, installed at Mount Wilson that year. Even before having seen it in
operation, he conceived the idea of building one in Italy, possibly using the funds
collected for Secchi Monument (Foderà Serio 2005; Bònoli and Mandrino, Chap.
17 in this volume).
Eager to visit Mount Wilson, Abetti wrote to Hale from Yerkes and, at the end of
1908, received an invitation to that Observatory (Foderà Serio 2005). For the young
astronomer “nothing else was required to make him wing-footed. It seemed to him
he was reaching Paradise, when immediately after [on January 11, 1909] he was
able to accompany Hale” to the mountain (Abetti 1960). Abetti was first assigned to
work at the 60-inch reflector, the largest telescope in operation in the world at that
time, which had just seen first light. He also studied solar prominences, observed
with the spectroheliograph of the Snow horizontal telescope, and monitored the
activities at the 60-foot solar tower and the plans for the 150-foot tower (Abetti 1909).
18 The Ups and Downs (and Ups Again!) of Astrophysics in Italy After Secchi
Giorgio’s recollections of his memories and correspondence with the “Maestro”
Hale (Abetti 1960). However, Giorgio soon showed an interest in astronomy, helping his father with observations and seeking advice from his father’s colleague,
Lorenzoni, director of Padua Observatory, where Abetti senior had started his career.
Lorenzoni, after an initial interest in spectroscopy, mainly worked in geodesy
and gravimetry. He frequently discussed Giorgio’s future with Antonio Abetti, hoping he would pursue a career in more modern fields of astronomy. In 1901, at the
start of Giorgio’s academic studies, Antonio worried about his son’s interest in
Galileo and the history of astronomy (which continued for the rest of his life); he
commented to Lorenzoni: “I dream of seeing him as an observer, experimenter,
alive more than ever among the living in this dizzying race of electricity, photography, spectroscopy (a.t.).” In 1909, when Giorgio was already visiting the USA, an
aging Lorenzoni wrote not without a touch of melancholia: “Lucky is he who is
given the power to acquire with relative ease a heap of practical knowledge, which
will allow him to cultivate astrophysics, or better solar physics, with a success worthy of our best local traditions (a.t.)” (Bianchi and Gasperini 2017).
During his studies at Padua University, where he got a degree in physics in 1904,
Giorgio Abetti “read with deep admiration and interest about the work Hale was
doing in the field of solar physics” (Abetti 1960). In 1905 he wrote Hale to ask if
there was any position opening in US observatories “to see the marvellous strides
made by the astronomers in the States in Astrophysics.” Hale replied that he was
aware of none, particularly not at that moment at Mount Wilson in California, the
new high-altitude observatory he had established a year earlier (Foderà Serio 2005).
Nevertheless, Abetti managed to achieve his “American dream.” On an Italian
grant, in July 1908 he arrived at Yerkes Observatory, where he observed solar prominences with a Rumford spectroheliograph, together with the assistant Philip Fox
(1878–1944) (Fig. 18.2). These observations were presented in the first astrophysical paper by Abetti (Fox and Abetti 1908), which was published in the Memorie.
During his residence at Yerkes, Abetti studied the progress of astrophysics in the
USA (a couple of reviews of works by Hale were published that year in the
Memorie). He was particularly impressed by the “tower telescope” (Abetti called it
“solar tower”; Abetti 1909), a vertical telescope of large focal length for solar spectroscopic studies, installed at Mount Wilson that year. Even before having seen it in
operation, he conceived the idea of building one in Italy, possibly using the funds
collected for Secchi Monument (Foderà Serio 2005; Bònoli and Mandrino, Chap.
17 in this volume).
Eager to visit Mount Wilson, Abetti wrote to Hale from Yerkes and, at the end of
1908, received an invitation to that Observatory (Foderà Serio 2005). For the young
astronomer “nothing else was required to make him wing-footed. It seemed to him
he was reaching Paradise, when immediately after [on January 11, 1909] he was
able to accompany Hale” to the mountain (Abetti 1960). Abetti was first assigned to
work at the 60-inch reflector, the largest telescope in operation in the world at that
time, which had just seen first light. He also studied solar prominences, observed
with the spectroheliograph of the Snow horizontal telescope, and monitored the
activities at the 60-foot solar tower and the plans for the 150-foot tower (Abetti 1909).
18 The Ups and Downs (and Ups Again!) of Astrophysics in Italy After Secchi