75
accepted the invitation of Commander Alessandro Cialdi (1807–1882) to take part
in an oceanographic campaign onboard the Papal steam corvette “Immacolata
Concezione.” Secchi was charged with the study of the transparency of water, and
he devised a method, now known as the “Secchi disk,” which is still in use today
(Zielinski, here).
He was member of other scientific expeditions. In Spain, he took part in an expedition organized by the Madrid Observatory and observed the total solar eclipse of
July 18, 1860 at Desierto de las Palmas, obtaining important early photographs of
totality. Comparing these photographs with those obtained by Warren de la Rue
(1815–1889) in another station some distance away definitively demonstrated that
the prominences seen around the Sun during the eclipse where due to the Sun itself
not a phenomenon local to where the eclipse was observed (Secchi 1863; Chinnici
2018). (Fig. 4.6).
The year 1870 brought a tragic change to the life of Angelo Secchi. In September,
Rome was occupied by the Italian army; the Pope lost his temporal power and was
confined to the Vatican Palaces. From then on, Secchi was in a very delicate position, a paw in the highly conflictual diplomatic game between the Italian Government
and the Vatican. A clear example of this could be seen in the case of the meeting of
the International Commission for the Meter, held in Paris in 1872, when the Italian
delegates protested against the presence of Secchi as a representative of the Holy
See (Chinnici 2019: 149–159).
Faithful to the Pope, but wishing to collaborate with Italian scientists, Secchi had
to make difficult choices. The most anguishing one concerned the chair of physical
astronomy at La Sapienza University, which was offered to him in 1870 by the
Italian Government; when the Government did not respect the previous agreements
about the freedom of teaching in the Jesuit colleges, he had to decline this appointment, in obedience to his Superiors (Tanzella-Nitti, Chap. 3 in this volume).
However, Secchi could take part in the Italian expedition to Sicily to observe the
total solar eclipse of December 22, 1870 (Olostro Cirella and Gargano 2016; Chinnici
2019: 140–147) (Fig. 4.7). He was invited to join the Italian party, thanks to the
mediation of Pietro Tacchini (1838–1905), astronomer at Palermo Observatory. In
Palermo, Tacchini used a Merz telescope almost identical to the one at the Collegio
Romano (Chinnici and Brenni 2015). This circumstance led to a fruitful collaboration between the two scientists, especially in the field of solar physics.
The main result of this scientific partnership was the establishment of the Società
degli Spettroscopisti Italiani (Italian Society of Spectroscopists) in 1871 (Chinnici
2008a). Its main aim was the monitoring of the solar activity and the study of the
correlation among different solar features (sunspots, prominences, faculae, etc.).
The results were published in the Memorie della Società degli Spettroscopisti
Italiani, which today is considered the world’s first astrophysical journal. In general, Secchi was a promoter of scientific cooperation, aware that the complexity of
the natural phenomena required a cooperative approach. In this case, he proposed
the establishment of a scientific society not as a mere academy, but as a community,
sharing a project. Secchi can be considered a “builder” of scientific communities.
Where did this attitude come from? It may well be that it came from his experience
4 Angelo Secchi: Portrait of a “Multi-versed” Jesuit Scientist
accepted the invitation of Commander Alessandro Cialdi (1807–1882) to take part
in an oceanographic campaign onboard the Papal steam corvette “Immacolata
Concezione.” Secchi was charged with the study of the transparency of water, and
he devised a method, now known as the “Secchi disk,” which is still in use today
(Zielinski, here).
He was member of other scientific expeditions. In Spain, he took part in an expedition organized by the Madrid Observatory and observed the total solar eclipse of
July 18, 1860 at Desierto de las Palmas, obtaining important early photographs of
totality. Comparing these photographs with those obtained by Warren de la Rue
(1815–1889) in another station some distance away definitively demonstrated that
the prominences seen around the Sun during the eclipse where due to the Sun itself
not a phenomenon local to where the eclipse was observed (Secchi 1863; Chinnici
2018). (Fig. 4.6).
The year 1870 brought a tragic change to the life of Angelo Secchi. In September,
Rome was occupied by the Italian army; the Pope lost his temporal power and was
confined to the Vatican Palaces. From then on, Secchi was in a very delicate position, a paw in the highly conflictual diplomatic game between the Italian Government
and the Vatican. A clear example of this could be seen in the case of the meeting of
the International Commission for the Meter, held in Paris in 1872, when the Italian
delegates protested against the presence of Secchi as a representative of the Holy
See (Chinnici 2019: 149–159).
Faithful to the Pope, but wishing to collaborate with Italian scientists, Secchi had
to make difficult choices. The most anguishing one concerned the chair of physical
astronomy at La Sapienza University, which was offered to him in 1870 by the
Italian Government; when the Government did not respect the previous agreements
about the freedom of teaching in the Jesuit colleges, he had to decline this appointment, in obedience to his Superiors (Tanzella-Nitti, Chap. 3 in this volume).
However, Secchi could take part in the Italian expedition to Sicily to observe the
total solar eclipse of December 22, 1870 (Olostro Cirella and Gargano 2016; Chinnici
2019: 140–147) (Fig. 4.7). He was invited to join the Italian party, thanks to the
mediation of Pietro Tacchini (1838–1905), astronomer at Palermo Observatory. In
Palermo, Tacchini used a Merz telescope almost identical to the one at the Collegio
Romano (Chinnici and Brenni 2015). This circumstance led to a fruitful collaboration between the two scientists, especially in the field of solar physics.
The main result of this scientific partnership was the establishment of the Società
degli Spettroscopisti Italiani (Italian Society of Spectroscopists) in 1871 (Chinnici
2008a). Its main aim was the monitoring of the solar activity and the study of the
correlation among different solar features (sunspots, prominences, faculae, etc.).
The results were published in the Memorie della Società degli Spettroscopisti
Italiani, which today is considered the world’s first astrophysical journal. In general, Secchi was a promoter of scientific cooperation, aware that the complexity of
the natural phenomena required a cooperative approach. In this case, he proposed
the establishment of a scientific society not as a mere academy, but as a community,
sharing a project. Secchi can be considered a “builder” of scientific communities.
Where did this attitude come from? It may well be that it came from his experience
4 Angelo Secchi: Portrait of a “Multi-versed” Jesuit Scientist