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Enrico Zeno Bernardi (20 May 1841 in 
Bernardi completed his
Enrico Zeno Bernardi (20 May 1841 in Verona
Verona ( ; ; or ) is a city on the Adige, River Adige in Veneto, Italy, with 255,131 inhabitants. It is one of the seven provincial capitals of the region, and is the largest city Comune, municipality in the region and in Northeast Italy, nor ...
– 21 February 1919 in Turin
Turin ( , ; ; , then ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The city is main ...
) 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 ...
engineer and one of the Italian automobile pioneers. As a child growing up in Verona, Bernardi spent much of his free time in blacksmiths' workshops learning the skills to put his inventive abilities into practice. In 1856, he entered a mechanical model of a steam engine
A steam engine is a heat engine that performs Work (physics), mechanical work using steam as its working fluid. The steam engine uses the force produced by steam pressure to push a piston back and forth inside a Cylinder (locomotive), cyl ...
and locomotive in the Verona Agricultural Exhibition, where he earned an honorable mention for his work.
Bernardi completed his secondary education
Secondary education is the education level following primary education and preceding tertiary education.
Level 2 or ''lower secondary education'' (less commonly ''junior secondary education'') is considered the second and final phase of basic e ...
in Verona and enrolled in 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 ...
in October 1859. He received a doctorate in mathematics from the University of Padua in June 1863 and remained at the University as an assistant to the chairs of the departments of Geodesy
Geodesy or geodetics is the science of measuring and representing the Figure of the Earth, geometry, Gravity of Earth, gravity, and Earth's rotation, spatial orientation of the Earth in Relative change, temporally varying Three-dimensional spac ...
, Hydrometry, Rational Mechanics, and Experimental Physics
Experimental physics is the category of disciplines and sub-disciplines in the field of physics that are concerned with the observation of physical phenomena and experiments. Methods vary from discipline to discipline, from simple experiments and o ...
. In 1867, Bernardi became the chair of Physics and Mechanics at the Royal Institute of Vocational Industry in Vicenza. He became dean of the Royal Institute and remained in that position until 1878, when he became a Professor of Hydraulic and Agricultural Machinery at the University of Padua and directed the Institute of Machinery there from 1879 until 1915.
On 5 August 1882 he prototyped the Motrice Pia, his petrol combustion engine (one cylinder, 121.6 cm3 displacement
Displacement may refer to:
Physical sciences
Mathematics and physics
*Displacement (geometry), is the difference between the final and initial position of a point trajectory (for instance, the center of mass of a moving object). The actual path ...
), almost at the same time as German Karl Benz
Carl (or Karl) Friedrich Benz (; born Karl Friedrich Michael Vaillant; 25 November 1844 – 4 April 1929) was a German engine designer and automotive engineer. His Benz Patent-Motorwagen from 1885 is considered the first practical modern automo ...
. The engine was used to operate his daughter Pia's sewing machine and was fitted to his son's tricycle
A tricycle, sometimes abbreviated to trike, is a Human-powered transport, human-powered (or gasoline or electric motor powered or assisted, or gravity powered) Three-wheeler, three-wheeled vehicle.
Some tricycles, such as cycle rickshaws (for pa ...
in 1884. A company called Miari & Giusti in Padova started production of Bernardi's engines and cars in 1894. Soon the company was taken over by Società Italiana Bernardi. It stopped production in 1901.
After withdrawing from academic life he moved in 1917 to Turin, where he died two years later. Bernardi was later honoured in many ways: a museum of vintage cars (Museo delle Macchine "Enrico Bernardi") was opened in Padua
Padua ( ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) in Veneto, northern Italy, and the capital of the province of Padua. The city lies on the banks of the river Bacchiglione, west of Venice and southeast of Vicenza, and has a population of 20 ...
and an 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 ...
, 25216 Enricobernardi, was named for him.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bernardi, Enrico 1841 births 1919 deaths Italian automotive pioneers People from Verona Defunct motor vehicle manufacturers of Italy 19th-century Italian people Academic staff of the University of Padua 19th-century Italian inventors