Pietro Tacchini (March 21, 1838 – March 24, 1905) was an Italian
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 ...
.
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 observatory in Modena. By 1863 he became the ''Primo Astronomo Aggiunto'', or director of the observatory, at
Palermo, Italy. He remained there until 1879, and focused most of his attention on observations of the Sun.
In 1865 he founded the specialist physical astronomy journal, ''Memorie della Società degli Spettroscopisti'', and remained the editor until 1905. (This publication later became the ''Memorie della Società Astronomica Italiana'' in 1920.)
Tacchini established an observation network with other Italian astronomers to spectroscopically examine the sun at about the same time daily. He likewise organized an observatory in
Calcutta
Kolkata, also known as Calcutta (List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern ba ...
to watch the sun when conditions were unfavorable in
Italy
Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...
. In 1874 he led an expedition to Muddapur,
India
India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...
to observe the
transit of Venus across the sun.
In 1879 he was summoned to
Rome
Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...
where he succeeded
Angelo Secchi at the ''Osservatorio del Collegio Romano''. In 1881 he became head of the ''Ufficio Centrale di Meteorologia''.
Due to his influence, the Bellini Observatory was completed on
Mount Etna
Mount Etna, or simply Etna ( or ; , or ; ; or ), is an active stratovolcano on the east coast of Sicily, Italy, in the Metropolitan City of Catania, between the cities of Messina, Italy, Messina and Catania. It is located above the Conve ...
where Pietro believed that the high altitude would improve the spectroscopic observations of the sun, and potentially allow direct observations of the
solar corona
In astronomy, a corona (: coronas or coronae) is the outermost layer of a star's Stellar atmosphere, atmosphere. It is a hot but relatively luminosity, dim region of Plasma (physics), plasma populated by intermittent coronal structures such as so ...
without an eclipse. He also recommended the construction of the Catania Observatory in 1885.
In 1888 he was awarded the
Rumford Medal and in 1892 the
Janssen Medal for his work on
solar spectroscopy.
The crater
Tacchini 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 for him, as well as the asteroid 8006 Tacchini.
Further reading
*
References
External links
History of the Palermo ObservatoryPortrait of Pietro Tacchini from the Lick Observatory Records Digital Archive, UC Santa Cruz Library's Digital Collections
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tacchini, Pietro
1838 births
1905 deaths
People from the Duchy of Modena and Reggio
19th-century Italian astronomers
Italian meteorologists
Foreign members of the Royal Society