viii
1848 – After the voluntary exile of the Italian Jesuits, he is a refugee at Stonyhurst
College, in England, then at Georgetown College, near Washington, D.C., in
the USA.
1849 – Once back in Rome, he becomes Director of the Collegio Romano
Observatory, following the untimely death of De Vico.
1852 – He moves the Observatory in a new site on the roof of St. Ignatius church,
where he installs a new Merz telescope, 22 cm aperture; it becomes the main
instrument of the Observatory, which is mainly devoted to astrophysics.
1862 – He is appointed Director of the Meteorological Service of the Papal State
and starts a daily telegraphic correspondence among the stations for weather
forecast.
1870 – He declines the offer of a chair of astrophysics at La Sapienza, from Italian
government, as a consequence of the deteriorated relationship between Italian
and Papal States.
1873 – He risks confiscation of his Observatory due to a law that expropriates all
properties belonging to the Catholic Church.
1876 – He keeps the directorship of Collegio Romano Observatory thanks to the
Bonghi decree for the reform of the Italian Observatories, which assigns a special status to the Collegio Romano Observatory.
1877 – He is elected President of the National Board for Italian Meteorology.
1878 – Secchi dies in Rome on February 26th due to stomach cancer, which was
diagnosed a few months earlier.
Scientific Activity
Positional Astronomy
His first astronomical works were in the field of astrometry: he revised the measurements of double stars included in the catalogue Mensurae Micrometricae by
Friedrich Wilhelm Struve; this revision work was completed by Secchi’s assistant,
G. S. Ferrari S. J. (Chinnici 2019: 63–65)
Solar Physics
This was his main research field (Chinnici 2019:180–190; Ermolli and Ferrucci,
Chap. 7, in this volume). He contributed to the study of solar radiation, photospheric
features, spectroscopic analysis of chromospheres, and prominences, and wrote Le
Soleil, one of the main nineteenth-century treatises about the Sun. In 1858, he
installed a geomagnetic station at the Observatory in order to systematically observe
Angelo Secchi: Biographic Notes (Chinnici 2019)
1848 – After the voluntary exile of the Italian Jesuits, he is a refugee at Stonyhurst
College, in England, then at Georgetown College, near Washington, D.C., in
the USA.
1849 – Once back in Rome, he becomes Director of the Collegio Romano
Observatory, following the untimely death of De Vico.
1852 – He moves the Observatory in a new site on the roof of St. Ignatius church,
where he installs a new Merz telescope, 22 cm aperture; it becomes the main
instrument of the Observatory, which is mainly devoted to astrophysics.
1862 – He is appointed Director of the Meteorological Service of the Papal State
and starts a daily telegraphic correspondence among the stations for weather
forecast.
1870 – He declines the offer of a chair of astrophysics at La Sapienza, from Italian
government, as a consequence of the deteriorated relationship between Italian
and Papal States.
1873 – He risks confiscation of his Observatory due to a law that expropriates all
properties belonging to the Catholic Church.
1876 – He keeps the directorship of Collegio Romano Observatory thanks to the
Bonghi decree for the reform of the Italian Observatories, which assigns a special status to the Collegio Romano Observatory.
1877 – He is elected President of the National Board for Italian Meteorology.
1878 – Secchi dies in Rome on February 26th due to stomach cancer, which was
diagnosed a few months earlier.
Scientific Activity
Positional Astronomy
His first astronomical works were in the field of astrometry: he revised the measurements of double stars included in the catalogue Mensurae Micrometricae by
Friedrich Wilhelm Struve; this revision work was completed by Secchi’s assistant,
G. S. Ferrari S. J. (Chinnici 2019: 63–65)
Solar Physics
This was his main research field (Chinnici 2019:180–190; Ermolli and Ferrucci,
Chap. 7, in this volume). He contributed to the study of solar radiation, photospheric
features, spectroscopic analysis of chromospheres, and prominences, and wrote Le
Soleil, one of the main nineteenth-century treatises about the Sun. In 1858, he
installed a geomagnetic station at the Observatory in order to systematically observe
Angelo Secchi: Biographic Notes (Chinnici 2019)