331
finally closed on August 13, 1937, and it was immediately torn down to create new
space in the Palazzo Senatorio. On October 28, 1938, in the presence of many dignitaries both political and scientific, the Ministry of National Education, Giuseppe
Bottai (1895–1959), inaugurated the Astronomical Observatory of Rome.
Armellini had finally gotten his observatory, and he described it enthusiastically:
“the new Institute is located close to the prime meridian of Italy and is home to the
finest instruments produced by Italian industry” (Armellini 1939). Nevertheless, it
is important to note that the astronomical instruments were more or less the same
ones that had been installed at the Observatories of Campidoglio and Collegio
Romano in the previous century.
The new site, however, provided an appropriate location for the Museo
Astronomico-Copernicano created by Tacchini 50 years earlier. This collection of
precious historical astronomical instruments as well as rare books and many other
objects related to astronomy was finally able to be put on display in several rooms
of the new observatory (Armellini 1939).
Scientific activities carried out at the Rome Observatory were well within the
tradition of both former observatories, even if quite far from the outstanding and
original research of Secchi and Respighi. In those years, the staff of the observatory
consisted of Armellini and the assistant astronomers Gabriella Conti (1891–1974),
Giovanni Andrissi (1901–1964), and Nino Squillace, who was replaced in 1933 by
Lucio Gialanella (1905–1954). They continued their traditional solar and planetary
observations, calculated the orbits of asteroids and minor planets, and performed
some photometric studies. The astrophysicist Livio Gratton (1910–1991), who frequented the observatory as an undergraduate student in 1931, has given a caustic
description of the poor scientific environment he found in the observatory in those
years (Gratton 1981). In those years the whole Italian astronomical community was
mainly involved on classical astronomy and celestial mechanics-related activities (Bianchi, Chap. 18, in this volume), and it can be easily understood when we
look at the fact that seven directors (out of nine) of Italian observatories were mathematicians (see, e.g., Castellani 2005). Astronomy in Rome was in the same conditions, and only for a very few astrophysical topics (e.g., solar observations), the
legacy of Secchi, Respighi, and Tacchini was taken over.
In 1938, something else happened in Rome: Adolf Hitler visited Italy in May. At
the end of his visit, he decided to donate a Zeiss telescope and a fully equipped
modern astronomical observatory “to the people who gave the birth to the great
scientist and inventor Galileo Galilei” (Bianchi 1939). Mussolini immediately
appointed Emilio Bianchi to set up a new observatory within 5 years, in order to
have it ready for the celebration of 300th anniversary of Galilei’s death.
Emilio Bianchi was the most influential astronomer in Italy during that time, and
he immediately started to build the new astronomical observatory that would host a
large refractor (66-cm-diameter lens), a 1.25 m Schmidt telescope, a double astrograph (44 cm per lens), and a precise coronagraph for solar observations, plus several ancillary instruments (Bianchi 1939). This would finally be the modern
world-class observatory that was still lacking in Italy.
19 Astronomy in Rome After Secchi and His Legacy at the Astronomical Observatory…
finally closed on August 13, 1937, and it was immediately torn down to create new
space in the Palazzo Senatorio. On October 28, 1938, in the presence of many dignitaries both political and scientific, the Ministry of National Education, Giuseppe
Bottai (1895–1959), inaugurated the Astronomical Observatory of Rome.
Armellini had finally gotten his observatory, and he described it enthusiastically:
“the new Institute is located close to the prime meridian of Italy and is home to the
finest instruments produced by Italian industry” (Armellini 1939). Nevertheless, it
is important to note that the astronomical instruments were more or less the same
ones that had been installed at the Observatories of Campidoglio and Collegio
Romano in the previous century.
The new site, however, provided an appropriate location for the Museo
Astronomico-Copernicano created by Tacchini 50 years earlier. This collection of
precious historical astronomical instruments as well as rare books and many other
objects related to astronomy was finally able to be put on display in several rooms
of the new observatory (Armellini 1939).
Scientific activities carried out at the Rome Observatory were well within the
tradition of both former observatories, even if quite far from the outstanding and
original research of Secchi and Respighi. In those years, the staff of the observatory
consisted of Armellini and the assistant astronomers Gabriella Conti (1891–1974),
Giovanni Andrissi (1901–1964), and Nino Squillace, who was replaced in 1933 by
Lucio Gialanella (1905–1954). They continued their traditional solar and planetary
observations, calculated the orbits of asteroids and minor planets, and performed
some photometric studies. The astrophysicist Livio Gratton (1910–1991), who frequented the observatory as an undergraduate student in 1931, has given a caustic
description of the poor scientific environment he found in the observatory in those
years (Gratton 1981). In those years the whole Italian astronomical community was
mainly involved on classical astronomy and celestial mechanics-related activities (Bianchi, Chap. 18, in this volume), and it can be easily understood when we
look at the fact that seven directors (out of nine) of Italian observatories were mathematicians (see, e.g., Castellani 2005). Astronomy in Rome was in the same conditions, and only for a very few astrophysical topics (e.g., solar observations), the
legacy of Secchi, Respighi, and Tacchini was taken over.
In 1938, something else happened in Rome: Adolf Hitler visited Italy in May. At
the end of his visit, he decided to donate a Zeiss telescope and a fully equipped
modern astronomical observatory “to the people who gave the birth to the great
scientist and inventor Galileo Galilei” (Bianchi 1939). Mussolini immediately
appointed Emilio Bianchi to set up a new observatory within 5 years, in order to
have it ready for the celebration of 300th anniversary of Galilei’s death.
Emilio Bianchi was the most influential astronomer in Italy during that time, and
he immediately started to build the new astronomical observatory that would host a
large refractor (66-cm-diameter lens), a 1.25 m Schmidt telescope, a double astrograph (44 cm per lens), and a precise coronagraph for solar observations, plus several ancillary instruments (Bianchi 1939). This would finally be the modern
world-class observatory that was still lacking in Italy.
19 Astronomy in Rome After Secchi and His Legacy at the Astronomical Observatory…