Ernesto Capocci Belmonte (Picinisco, 31 March 1798 – Naples, 6 January 1864) was an Italian mathematician, astronomer and politician. From 1815 he was a pupil at the Astronomical Observatory of Naples directed by his uncle Federigo Zuccari. In 1819 he was appointed as assistant astronomer by

Giuseppe Piazzi Giuseppe Piazzi ( , ; 16 July 1746 – 22 July 1826) was an Italian Catholic priest of the Theatine order, mathematician, and astronomer. He established an observatory at Palermo, now the '' Osservatorio Astronomico di Palermo – Giuseppe S ...

at the new observatory in Capodimonte directed by Carlo Brioschi. In 1833 the king of Naples Ferdinand II appointed him director of the Observatory, but in 1850 he was ousted for having participated with his children in the uprisings of 1848 and for being a supporter of liberal and

Risorgimento The unification of Italy ( it, Unità d'Italia ), also known as the ''Risorgimento'' (, ; ), was the 19th-century political and social movement that resulted in the consolidation of different states of the Italian Peninsula into a single ...

ideas. He was reinstated in functions by Giuseppe Garibaldi in 1860. He was a member of the Neapolitan Parliament in 1848. On the proposal of Garibaldi, he was appointed senator of the Kingdom of Italy by

Vittorio Emanuele II Victor Emmanuel II ( it, Vittorio Emanuele II; full name: ''Vittorio Emanuele Maria Alberto Eugenio Ferdinando Tommaso di Savoia''; 14 March 1820 – 9 January 1878) was King of Sardinia from 1849 until 17 March 1861, when he assumed the title o ...

in 1861. The same year he was appointed honorary professor at the

University of Naples The University of Naples Federico II ( it, Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II) is a public university in Naples, Italy. Founded in 1224, it is the oldest public non-sectarian university in the world, and is now organized into 26 depar ...

and president of the

Accademia Pontaniana The Accademia Pontaniana was the first academy in the modern sense, as a learned society for scholars and humanists and guided by a formal statute. Patronized by Alfonso V of Aragon, it was founded by the poet Antonio Beccadelli in Naples during ...

. He was a prolific popular science author and forerunner of

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel uni ...

novels by publishing in 1857 ''Relazione del primo viaggio alla Luna Otto da una donna'', a report of a woman's first trip to the moon realized in 2057, 200 years after the book's publication. The novel was published eight years before Jules Verne's

From the Earth to the Moon ''From the Earth to the Moon: A Direct Route in 97 Hours, 20 Minutes'' (french: De la Terre à la Lune, trajet direct en 97 heures 20 minutes) is an 1865 novel by Jules Verne. It tells the story of the Baltimore Gun Club, a post-American Civil W ...

. On the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the death of Ernesto Capocci, the Capodimonte Observatory organized an exhibition dedicated to the astronomer and published anastatic reprints of some of his popular texts. In Paris he frequented François Arago and

Alexander von Humboldt Friedrich Wilhelm Heinrich Alexander von Humboldt (14 September 17696 May 1859) was a German polymath, geographer, naturalist, explorer, and proponent of Romantic philosophy and science. He was the younger brother of the Prussian minister, ...

, prompted

Macedonio Melloni Macedonio Melloni (11 April 1798 – 11 August 1854) was an Italian physicist, notable for demonstrating that radiant heat has similar physical properties to those of light. Life Born at Parma, in 1824 he was appointed professor at the local Uni ...

to come and live in Naples to direct the Meteorological Observatory on

Vesuvius Mount Vesuvius ( ; it, Vesuvio ; nap, 'O Vesuvio , also or ; la, Vesuvius , also , or ) is a somma- stratovolcano located on the Gulf of Naples in Campania, Italy, about east of Naples and a short distance from the shore. It is one of ...

. He died in 1864 and was buried in the Poggioreale cemetery in Naples. His tomb, embellished with a bust made by

Vincenzo Gemito Vincenzo Gemito (July 16, 1852 – March 1, 1929) was an Italian sculptor and artist. Although he worked in various studios of well-known artists in his native Naples, Rome and Paris, he is considered to have largely been self-taught, the reason ...

later exhibited in the Capodimonte Observatory Museum, was inaugurated in November 1900 with a speech given by

Pasquale Del Pezzo Pasquale del Pezzo, Duke of Caianello and Marquis of Campodisola (2 May 1859 – 20 June 1936), was an Italian mathematician. He was born in Berlin (where his father was a representative of the Neapolitan king) on 2 May 1859. He died in Naples ...

and published in 2015.

Works

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Capocci, Ernesto 1798 births 1864 deaths 19th-century Italian astronomers Scientists from Naples