Antonio Abetti (19 June 1846 – 20 February 1928) was an

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

astronomer An astronomer is a scientist in the field of astronomy who focuses their studies on a specific question or field outside the scope of Earth. They observe astronomical objects such as stars, planets, moons, comets and galaxies – in either ...

. Born in San Pietro di Gorizia ( Šempeter-Vrtojba), he earned a degree in mathematics and

engineering Engineering is the use of scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad range of more speciali ...

at the

University of Padua The University of Padua ( it, Università degli Studi di Padova, UNIPD) is an Italian university located in the city of Padua, region of Veneto, northern Italy. The University of Padua was founded in 1222 by a group of students and teachers from ...

. He was married to Giovanna Colbachini in 1879 and they had two sons. He died in

Arcetri Arcetri is a location in Florence, Italy, positioned among the hills south of the city centre. __TOC__ Landmarks A number of historic buildings are situated there, including the house of the famous scientist Galileo Galilei (called '' Villa Il Gi ...

Work

Abetti mainly worked in

positional astronomy Spherical astronomy, or positional astronomy, is a branch of observational astronomy used to locate astronomical objects on the celestial sphere, as seen at a particular date, time, and location on Earth. It relies on the mathematical methods o ...

and made many observations of minor planets, comets, and star occultations. In 1874 he was part of an expedition led by

Pietro Tacchini Pietro Tacchini (March 21, 1838 – March 24, 1905) was an Italian astronomer. He was born and raised in Modena, Italy. He studied engineering at the University of Padova. At the age of 21, he was appointed the director of a small observato ...

to observe a

transit of Venus frameless, upright=0.5 A transit of Venus across the Sun takes place when the planet Venus passes directly between the Sun and a superior planet, becoming visible against (and hence obscuring a small portion of) the solar disk. During a tr ...

with a

spectroscope An optical spectrometer (spectrophotometer, spectrograph or spectroscope) is an instrument used to measure properties of light over a specific portion of the electromagnetic spectrum, typically used in spectroscopic analysis to identify mate ...

. Later he became director of the Osservatorio Astrofisico di Arcetri and a professor at the

University of Florence The University of Florence (Italian: ''Università degli Studi di Firenze'', UniFI) is an Italian public research university located in Florence, Italy. It comprises 12 schools and has around 50,000 students enrolled. History The first universi ...

. He refurbished the observatory at Arcetri by installing a new telescope.

Honors

* Member of the Accademia dei Lincei. * Member of the

Royal Astronomical Society (Whatever shines should be observed) , predecessor = , successor = , formation = , founder = , extinction = , merger = , merged = , type = NG ...

. * The crater Abetti on the

Moon The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It is the fifth largest satellite in the Solar System and the largest and most massive relative to its parent planet, with a diameter about one-quarter that of Earth (comparable to the width of ...

is named after both Antonio and his son

Giorgio Abetti Prof Giorgio Abetti H FRSE (5 October 1882 – 24 August 1982) was an Italian solar astronomer.G. GodolABETTI, Giorgio Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani (in Italian) Life He was born in Padua, the son of noted astronomer Antonio Abetti. He ...

. * The minor planet 2646 Abetti is also named after Antonio and his son."Abetti, Antonio", Christof A. Plicht, p. 6, in ''The Biographical Dictionary of Astronomers'', eds. Thomas Hockey et al., Springer: New York, 2007, , .

References

External links

Biography of Abetti
1846 births 1928 deaths People from Šempeter pri Gorici 19th-century Italian astronomers 20th-century Italian astronomers University of Padua alumni University of Florence faculty {{Italy-astronomer-stub