Giuseppe Toaldo or Joseph Toaldo FRS (Pianezze, 11 November 1719 – Padua, 11 July 1797) was an Italian Catholic priest and physicist. He took an interest in astro-meteorology and served as the chair of astronomy at Padua from 1764.
Giuseppe Toaldo | |
|---|---|
 Portrait of Giuseppe Toaldo | |
| Born | 11 July 1719 |
| Died | 11 November 1797 (aged 78) |
| Nationality | Italian |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Astronomy |
| Institutions | University of Padua; Astronomical Observatory of Padua |
Biography
editGiuseppe Toaldo was born in 1719 in Pianezza near Vicenza. At the age of fourteen he entered the seminary of Padua, and spent much of his life in the Serenissima in which he subsequently taught mathematics and Italian literature. While connected with the seminary he edited the works of Galileo (1744), for which he wrote an appreciative preface and critical notes. In this edition, for the first time since Galileo Galilei's condemnation, it was published with ecclesiastical approval the Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems. [1]
In 1754 he was appointed pastor of Montegalda; and, eight years later, was called to the chair of astronomy in the University of Padua. Toaldo, like his contemporaries, Divisch and Giovanni Battista Beccaria (both priests), gave special attention to the study of atmospheric electricity and to the means of protecting buildings against lightning. He advocated the erection of lightning rods, adopting the views of Benjamin Franklin on their preventive and protective action, rather than those of the French school led by Abbé Nollet. His treatise "Della maniera di difendere gli edificii dal fulmine" (1772) and his pamphlet "Dei conduttori metallici a preservazione degli edifici dal fulmine" (1774) contributed largely to remove the popular prejudices of the time against the use of the "Franklinian rod"; and through his exertions lightning-conductors were placed on Siena Cathedral, on the tower of St. Mark's, Venice, on powder magazines, and ships of the Venetian navy.
Toaldo became especially famous in Europe for his weather prediction theories.[2][3] He noticed that after 9 years, and then 18 years, meteorological phenomena returned in the same order.[4][5][6][7]
He also organised a meteorological network in the Republic of Venice.[8] His call for collaboration circulated above all through his almanac: the Giornale astro-meteorologico, which appeared for the first time in 1773 and continued long after his death. He was able to bring together more than thirty observers, including a noblewoman from Sacile, Angela Borgo.[9]
Toaldo was a member of many of the learned bodies of Europe, notably of the Royal Society, London. The asteroid 23685 Toaldo is named for him.
Works
edit
- Della maniera di preservare gli edifici dal fulmine (in Italian). Venezia. 1772.
- Novae tabulae barometri aestusque maris (in Latin). Padova: Tipografia del Seminario. 1773.
- Del conduttore elettrico posto nel campanile di S. Marco in Venezia (in Italian). Venezia: Giovanni Antonio Pinelli, figli. 1776.
- Saggi di studi veneti (in Italian). Venezia: Gasparo Storti (2.). 1782.
- Tavole di vitalità (in Italian). Padova: Giovanni Antonio Conzatti. 1787.
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ Finocchiaro, Maurice A. (2007). Retrying Galileo, 1633–1992. University of California Press. p. 133. ISBN 9780520253872.
- ^ Dolet, Simon (2022-06-30). "L'astrologie saine de Giuseppe Toaldo et les séismes, clés de la prédiction des changements climatiques ?". Dix-huitième siècle. 54 (1): 49–62. doi:10.3917/dhs.054.0049. ISSN 0070-6760.
- ^ Domínguez-Castro, Fernando; Vaquero, José Manuel; Bertolin, Chiara; Gallego, María Cruz; De la Guía, Cristina; Camuffo, Dario (2016). "Aurorae observed by Giuseppe Toaldo in Padua (1766–1797)". Journal of Space Weather and Space Climate. 6: A21. Bibcode:2016JSWSC...6A..21D. doi:10.1051/swsc/2016016. hdl:10662/7456. ISSN 2115-7251.
- ^ Sheynin, O. B. (1984). "On the history of the statistical method in meteorology". Archive for History of Exact Sciences. 31 (1): 53–95. doi:10.1007/BF00330243. ISSN 0003-9519.
- ^ Toaldo, J. (1777). "Essai de metéorologie etc". Journal de Physique. 10: 249–279, 333–367.
- ^ Witterungslehre für den Feldbau. Berlin. 1777.
- ^ Toaldo, J. (1782). "Le saros meteorologique". Journal de Physique, Supplément. 21: 176–189.
- ^ Dolet, Simon (2023-05-26). "Le pouvoir de l'amitié pour saisir un phénomène « météorologique » exceptionnel. Informateurs et observateurs des globes de feu de 1676 et 1784". Dix-huitième siècle. 55 (1): 385–402. doi:10.3917/dhs.055.0385. ISSN 0070-6760.
- ^ Dolet, Simon (2023). "La météorologie, un nouvel accès à la médecine pour les femmes ?". Italies. 27: 5–48. doi:10.4000/12a47. ISSN 1275-7519.
External links
edit
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Giuseppe Toaldo". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.- Ampollini, Ilaria (2019). "TOALDO, Giuseppe". Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani, Volume 95: Taranto–Togni (in Italian). Rome: Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana. ISBN 978-8-81200032-6.
- Ampollini, Ilaria (2019). "Celestial globes and popular astronomy. Giuseppe Toaldo traslator of Jérôme Lalande". Nuncius. XXXIV (1): 69–98. doi:10.1163/18253911-03401003.
