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, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

astronomer An astronomer is a scientist in the field of astronomy who focuses on a specific question or field outside the scope of Earth. Astronomers observe astronomical objects, such as stars, planets, natural satellite, moons, comets and galaxy, galax ...

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

mathematics Mathematics is a field of study that discovers and organizes methods, Mathematical theory, theories and theorems that are developed and Mathematical proof, proved for the needs of empirical sciences and mathematics itself. There are many ar ...

and

engineering Engineering is the practice of using natural science, mathematics, and the engineering design process to Problem solving#Engineering, solve problems within technology, increase efficiency and productivity, and improve Systems engineering, s ...

at the

University of Padua The University of Padua (, UNIPD) is an Italian public research university in Padua, Italy. It was founded in 1222 by a group of students and teachers from the University of Bologna, who previously settled in Vicenza; thus, it is the second-oldest ...

. 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 scientist Galileo Galilei Galileo di Vincenzo B ...

Work

Abetti mainly worked in

positional astronomy Positional notation, also known as place-value notation, positional numeral system, or simply place value, usually denotes the extension to any base of the Hindu–Arabic numeral system (or decimal system). More generally, a positional system i ...

and made many observations of minor planets, comets, and star occultations. He computed the

orbit In celestial mechanics, an orbit (also known as orbital revolution) is the curved trajectory of an object such as the trajectory of a planet around a star, or of a natural satellite around a planet, or of an artificial satellite around an ...

of 170 Maria, a Main belt

asteroid An asteroid is a minor planet—an object larger than a meteoroid that is neither a planet nor an identified comet—that orbits within the Solar System#Inner Solar System, inner Solar System or is co-orbital with Jupiter (Trojan asteroids). As ...

. In 1874 he was part of an Italian expedition to Muddapur, in India, 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 observat ...

to observe a

transit of Venus A transit of Venus takes place when Venus passes directly between the Sun and the Earth (or any other superior planet), becoming visible against (and hence obscuring a small portion of) the solar disk. During a transit, Venus is visible as ...

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'') (in acronym UNIFI) is an Italian public research university located in Florence, Italy. It comprises 12 schools and has around 50,000 students enrolled. History The f ...

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

Honors

* Member of the

Accademia dei Lincei The (; literally the "Academy of the Lynx-Eyed"), anglicised as the Lincean Academy, is one of the oldest and most prestigious European scientific institutions, located at the Palazzo Corsini on the Via della Lungara in Rome, Italy. Founded in ...

. * Member of the

Royal Astronomical Society The Royal Astronomical Society (RAS) is a learned society and charitable organisation, charity that encourages and promotes the study of astronomy, planetary science, solar-system science, geophysics and closely related branches of science. Its ...

. * The crater Abetti on the

Moon The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It Orbit of the Moon, orbits around Earth at Lunar distance, an average distance of (; about 30 times Earth diameter, Earth's diameter). The Moon rotation, rotates, with a rotation period (lunar ...

is named after both Antonio and his son

Giorgio Abetti Prof Giorgio Abetti HFRSE (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 w ...

. * 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 Academic staff of the University of Florence {{Italy-astronomer-stub