320
18.9 Concluding Remarks: Abetti’s “History
of Astrophysics”
As shown in this chapter, Secchi and the other pioneering spectroscopists were constantly mentioned in the works of Italian astrophysicists. Their names can also be
found in the earliest accounts of the development of astrophysics, such as Agnes
Clerke’s A Popular History of Astronomy During the Nineteenth Century (Clerke
1902), which cites Donati, Secchi, Respighi, Tacchini, and Riccò. They are cited as
well in modern historical reviews: Secchi, Respighi, Tacchini, and Riccò are remembered in Early Solar Physics (Meadows 1970); Donati and Secchi in The Analysis
of Starlight (Hearnshaw 2014). More difficult is to track the impact of Italian astrophysics in the twentieth century. According to Righini (2003), in the first half of the
twentieth century, only Italian solar physicists gave any significant contribution to
astrophysics. In fact, in Hearnshaw’s account (2014), the work of Italian observatories in the field of stellar spectroscopy only appears in the 1960s.
One can evaluate the impact of the early Italian astrophysicists by looking at
Abetti’s publications on the history of astronomy. Among his earliest ones is a life
of Secchi which the author, as “a grateful and devout disciple (a.t.),” dedicated to
Hale (Abetti 1928). Another successful book was Abetti’s The History of Astronomy,
published in Italian, Spanish, and English (Abetti 1952).
After publishing a second Italian edition of the book in 1962, the astronomer
started to work on the draft of a Storia dell’Astrofisica, which Abetti intended to
publish in collaboration with Hack. A typescript of 171 pages (about 65,000 words)
was ready by the end of 1966. The text, divided into 16 chapters, spans from the first
studies of the physical characteristics of celestial bodies by Galileo to the discovery
of the first quasars at the beginning of the 1960s. The work of the pioneers in astronomical spectroscopy is described in Chap. 4, with a note on the early observations
by Donati and an extended description of the activity of Secchi; brief references to
Respighi and Riccò are made, while a paragraph is dedicated to Tacchini’s role in
the establishment of the Società degli Spettroscopisti Italiani and to the Memorie,
stating its primacy as the first periodical dedicated to astrophysics. But the lack of
direct disciples of those pioneers is evident in the lack of Italian names in the following chapters, except for a very brief reference to Abetti’s work and his pupil’s,
Righini.
The original typescript, preserved in the Arcetri Historical Archive, was never
published, though a 90-year-old Abetti had an abridged version produced in 1973.
In this final text, reduced to about one sixth of its original length, only references to
Donati and Secchi survived (Abetti 1973).
Acknowledgment I am grateful to Daniele Galli for reading an earlier version of the manuscript.
S. Bianchi
18.9 Concluding Remarks: Abetti’s “History
of Astrophysics”
As shown in this chapter, Secchi and the other pioneering spectroscopists were constantly mentioned in the works of Italian astrophysicists. Their names can also be
found in the earliest accounts of the development of astrophysics, such as Agnes
Clerke’s A Popular History of Astronomy During the Nineteenth Century (Clerke
1902), which cites Donati, Secchi, Respighi, Tacchini, and Riccò. They are cited as
well in modern historical reviews: Secchi, Respighi, Tacchini, and Riccò are remembered in Early Solar Physics (Meadows 1970); Donati and Secchi in The Analysis
of Starlight (Hearnshaw 2014). More difficult is to track the impact of Italian astrophysics in the twentieth century. According to Righini (2003), in the first half of the
twentieth century, only Italian solar physicists gave any significant contribution to
astrophysics. In fact, in Hearnshaw’s account (2014), the work of Italian observatories in the field of stellar spectroscopy only appears in the 1960s.
One can evaluate the impact of the early Italian astrophysicists by looking at
Abetti’s publications on the history of astronomy. Among his earliest ones is a life
of Secchi which the author, as “a grateful and devout disciple (a.t.),” dedicated to
Hale (Abetti 1928). Another successful book was Abetti’s The History of Astronomy,
published in Italian, Spanish, and English (Abetti 1952).
After publishing a second Italian edition of the book in 1962, the astronomer
started to work on the draft of a Storia dell’Astrofisica, which Abetti intended to
publish in collaboration with Hack. A typescript of 171 pages (about 65,000 words)
was ready by the end of 1966. The text, divided into 16 chapters, spans from the first
studies of the physical characteristics of celestial bodies by Galileo to the discovery
of the first quasars at the beginning of the 1960s. The work of the pioneers in astronomical spectroscopy is described in Chap. 4, with a note on the early observations
by Donati and an extended description of the activity of Secchi; brief references to
Respighi and Riccò are made, while a paragraph is dedicated to Tacchini’s role in
the establishment of the Società degli Spettroscopisti Italiani and to the Memorie,
stating its primacy as the first periodical dedicated to astrophysics. But the lack of
direct disciples of those pioneers is evident in the lack of Italian names in the following chapters, except for a very brief reference to Abetti’s work and his pupil’s,
Righini.
The original typescript, preserved in the Arcetri Historical Archive, was never
published, though a 90-year-old Abetti had an abridged version produced in 1973.
In this final text, reduced to about one sixth of its original length, only references to
Donati and Secchi survived (Abetti 1973).
Acknowledgment I am grateful to Daniele Galli for reading an earlier version of the manuscript.
S. Bianchi