The Lorenzoni-Tacchini Correspondence at Padova Observatory Archives: the ``True'' History of Italian Astronomy of the Second Half of the Nineteenth Century

Luisa Pigatto, Maurizio Salmaso and Valeria Zanini

The correspondence between Giuseppe Lorenzoni and Pietro Tacchini covers the period from 1870 to 1905. Two hundred and ninety original letters written by Tacchini to Lorenzoni and 177 rough copies of letters by Lorenzoni to Tacchini are preserved at the Padova Observatory Archives. Their friendship, which started in 1870 during the expedition to the total solar eclipse in Sicily, as well as their astronomical ability, were of great importance for many events in Italian astronomy during the 2nd half of the 19th century. We are able to gather from this correspondence the following things: 1) the hard work that was put into the founding of the `Societ\`{a} degli Spettroscopisti Italiani' which succeeded in 1871 mainly thanks to the willingness of three astronomers, Secchi, Tacchini and Lorenzoni; 2) important details about the preparation for the Italian party to India to observe the transit of Venus in 1874; 3) the role of both Lorenzoni and the workshop of the Observatory of Padova in successfully making two large equatorial mountings for the new Catania Observatory and the Bellini Observatory on Mount Etna, and later those for the Italian Observatories of Turin, `Collegio Romano' in Rome, and Arcetri in Florence.

Manuscript: jad10_7k.pdf