Category of Astronomical Heritage: tangible immovable
La Specola, Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova, Italy
Format: IAU - Outstanding Astronomical Heritage
Description
Geographical position
La Specola, Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova (Padua),
Vicolo dell’Osservatorio 5, 35122 Padova PD, Italy
Location
Latitude 45°24’06.91’’ N, 11°52’06.85’’ E, Elevation ...m above mean sea level.
IAU observatory code
533
Description of (scientific/cultural/natural) heritage
Fig. 1a. University of Padua (Università degli Studi di Padova), Palazzo Bo (1492), (Repro: Gudrun Wolfschmidt)
Fig. 1b. University of Padua (Università degli Studi di Padova), Palazzo Bo (1492), (Photo: Gudrun Wolfschmidt)
Fig. 1c. University of Padua (Università degli Studi di Padova), Palazzo Bo (1492), (Photo: Gudrun Wolfschmidt)
University of Padua (Università degli Studi di Padova)
The University of Padua (Università degli Studi di Padova) was founded in 1222 -- one of the oldest universities in Europe and the second oldest university in Italy after Bologna. Highlights are the Botanical Garden of Padova (1545) -- the oldest in the world (cf. Pisa, founded in 1544 by the Medici), and the remarkable oldest surviving Anatomical Theatre in Europe (1595).
Famous professors were Galilei (1564--1641 jul--1642 greg), professor of mathematics from 1592 to 1610, and Andreas Vesalius (1514--1564), professor of surgery and anatomy from 1537 to 1544 (De Humani Corporis Fabrica, 1543).
The coats of arms of professors and students can be found in the Aula Magna, Palazzo Bo in Padua
Fig. 1d. Seal of the University of Padua (© Università degli Studi di Padova)
Fig. 1e. Cathedra of Galilei with forty portraits of famous foreign scholars in the background, (Photo: Gudrun Wolfschmidt)
Famous students were Albertus Magnus (~1200--1280), Nicolas of Cusa (1401--1464), Nicolaus Copernicus (1473--1543), 1501 to 1503, Stephan Báthory (1533--1586), Prince of Transylvania, King of Poland (1576) and Grand Duke of Lithuania, Stephan Báthory University Observatory in Vilnius, William Harvey (1578--1657), described function of heart and circulatory system, Werner Rolfinck (1599--1673), promoted anatomy and chemistry studies in Germany, created in Jena an anatomical theatre, a botanical garden, and a chemistry laboratory on the Paduan model.
In 1678, Elena Lucrezia Cornaro Piscopia (1646--1684) was awarded a doctorate in philosophy, the first woman ever to do so. She was accepted as mathematics lecturer. Piscopia, a crater of 26 km in diameter on the planet Venus was dedicated to her.
La Specula
Fig. 2a. La Specola, Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova (1767), (CC3, Ivanfurlanis)
In 1761 the Venetian Senate decreed the establishment of an astronomical observatory for the University of Padua; the architect was Domenico Cerato (1715--1792) from Vicenza.
La Specola is a 14th-century tower, formerly part of a medieval castle, Castel Vecchio, and converted from 1767 to 1677 into an astronomical observatory. The access to the Specola was from what is now Piazza Castello. The first rooms are: Androne (Entrance), Scalone (Staircase) e Sala Iscrizione (Registration room), then Sala Colonna (Column Hall with a pillar in the middle supporting the vault above), Sala Meridiana (Meridian Hall) e Sala Figure (Figure Hall).
In 1773, the Specola got a lightning rod, a very innovative idea (invented by Benjamin Franklin in 1750), suggested by the Genevan professor Horace-Bénédict de Saussure (1740--1799) -- the first installation of a lightning rod in the Republic of Venice.
Fig. 2b. La Specola, Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova (1767)
In 1777, the tower was completed and housed two observation sites:- A lower observatory (Sala Meridiana), 16m above ground level, in order to carry out meridian observations; a precision pendulum clock was installed at the wall. A meridian line was created for determining the exact moment of local noon.
A large fresco is painted on the east wall which illustrates with great precision the geometric structure of the solar system known in Toaldo’s time.
- An upper observatory, Sala Figure (Figure Hall), an octagonal room at a height of 35m with large windows, almost six metres high, which allow 360 degree observation of the sky from inside. But the instruments, all equipped with mounts with wheels, could be moved also to the surrounding terrace, facing towards the South.
In 1772/73, the octagonal room was frescoed by the Vicenza painter Giacomo Ciesa (1733--1822) with astronomical subjects created by the first director Giuseppe Toaldo (1719--1797), eight portraits (1773) of famous astronomers: Ptolemaios, Copernicus, Tycho Brahe, Galilei, Kepler, Newton, Geminiano Montanari (1633--1687), Paduan chair of astronomy and meteorology from 1678 to 1687, Giovanni Poleni (1683--1761), chair of astronomy in 1709, physics in 1715, mathematics in 1719, and in 1739, the first European chair of Experimental Physics with a Theatre of Experimental Philosophy with almost four hundred scientific instruments. In addition, a band of the twelve zodiac signs was painted all around the vault.
Fig. 3. Vaults and six metres high windows in the upper floor of La Specola, Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova (1767), (INAF)
An inscription at the entrance by Abbé Toaldo (1771) states:
1242 / This tower, which once led to infernal shadows /
now, under the auspices of the Venetians, opens the way to the stars / 1767 (MCCXLII / QUAE QUONDAM INFERNAS TURRIS DUCEBAT AD UMBRAS/NUNC VENETUM AUSPICIIS PANDIT AD ASTRA VIAM / MDCCLXVII)
La Specola was initially an astronomical and meteorological observatory, but since 1817 it has been exclusively concerned with astronomical observations.
An important task was the timekeeping, the average time of Rome was transmitted telegraphically, twice a week, to the Scientific Office of the Navy of Venice, which thus regulated the chronometers of ships departing from the Arsenale.
Giuseppe Lorenzoni (1843--1914) started astrophysics, and observed the total solar eclipse from Sicily in 1870, especially the solar corona with a direct vision spectroscope. He discovered a bright line at 4472 Å which came to be called the Lorenzoni f line.
In 1923, the observatory was separated from the university, but continued to work with the local Galileo-Galilei Department of Physics and Astronomy.
In 1942, the University of Padua decided to built a modern facility, represented by the Asiago Astrophysical Observatory on a plateau north of Padova. Some rooms of the Specula, which was no longer used to carry out astronomical observations, were then transformed to house the ancient library and archive.
In 1994, a new building, the so-called Castelvecchio Munizioniere House, was acquired, so that the whole Specula Tower could be used as museum.
History
Fig. 4. Instruments of La Specola, Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova, (INAF)
Instruments
- Celestial and Terrestrial Globes (diameter 38.2cm), made by John Newton of London (1785/1787)
- Celestial Globe (diameter 97cm), made by Carl Adami of Berlin (1854)
- Terrestrial Globe (diameter 63cm), made by Joseph Jütter of Vienna (1839)
- Lunar Globes
- Globe of Mars (diameter 11cm, height 18cm), made by E. Bertaux of Paris (~1880)
- Globe of Mars (diameter 10cm, height 22cm), made by J. Lebèque of Bruxelles (~1890)
- Armillary Sphere (diameter 10cm, height 28cm, height 50cm), made by Ferdinando Arlaria of Milan (~1810)
- Meteorological instruments:
Heliograph (sunshine recorder), Negretti & Zambra of London
Rain Gauges (1770) - Geodetic instruments (Commissione Italiana per la misura dei gradi in Europa)
- Angle Measuring Instrument (diameter 25cm), made by Guiseppe Stefani of Padova (1827)
- Seismological instruments:
Seismoscope, made by F.lli Brassart of Rome (1888)
- Large Mural Quadrant (Radius 244cm, with achromatic refractor, aperture 70cm, focal length 87cm), made by Jesse Ramsden of London (1776)
- Small Mural Quadrant
- Small Altazimuth Quadrant (Radius 15cm, with refractor, aperture 1.8cm, focal length 33cm), made by Antonio Fabris of Bovolenta/Padova
- Telescope with Quadrant, Anton Fabri ....
- Moveable Quadrant (Radius 120cm, with refractor, aperture 4cm, focal length 130cm), made by Bernardino Zendini of Venice (1st half 18th century)
- Moveable Quadrant (Radius 65cm, with achromatic refractor, aperture 6cm, focal length 98cm), made by George Adams of London (~1780)
- Moveable Sextant (Radius 35cm), made by Jesse Ramsden of London (1780)
- Meridian Line (1776, 1858)
- Pendulum Clock, made by the Venetian clockmaker Zuane Riva (1766), penulum Riva-Rodella (1874)
- Pendulum Clock, made by John Grant of London (1780)
- Pendulum Clock, made by the C. Frodsham & Co of London (19th century)
- Precision Pendulum Clock (No. 164), made by S. Riefler of Munich (1905)
- Repeating Circle (diameter 32cm), Georg Reichenbach of Munich (1815)
- Reflecting Circle (diameter 26cm), made by Guiseppe Stefani of Padova (1807)
- Reflecting Circle (diameter 25cm), made by Johann A.D. Örtling of Berlin (1845)
- Repeating Theodolite (diameter 13.5cm), made by Sante Mioni of Padova (1890)
- Dividing Machine (diameter 74cm), made by Guiseppe Stefani of Padova (1827)
- Meridian Circle, made by the K.K. Politechn. Institut in Wien -- Chr. Starke [Polytechnical Institute of Vienna] (1836)
in an octagonal pavilion.
The original objective of the telescope, made by Utzschneider & Fraunhofer of Munich, had an aperture of 10.9cm and a focal length of 163.5cm.
In 1911, it was replaced with the current one, made by Carl Zeiss of Jena, with a slightly larger aperture (11cm) and focal length (164cm) than the original.
In 1858, Santini purchased a micrometer, made by Stampfer of Vienna, which was capable of producing bright lines and points in the dark field in the focal plane, to be used as an alternative to the original wire micrometer. In 1914, the mechanical workshop of the Sante Miloni Observatory created a new and modern micrometer.
Also fundamental to the instrument was the ’meridian mire’ that Santini had placed in 1842, on the occasion of the IV Congress of Italian Scientists, in the current gardens of the Bastione S. Croce, in an elevated place visible from the Specola. This stone stele was the meridian target that was used to align the instrument with the celestial meridian.
Santini’s observations with the meridian circle in collaboration with Virgilio Trettenero, which they carried out for a period of about 30 years, resulted in the five Padua Catalogues,
also known as the Santini Catalogues, comprising a total of almost 10,000 stars, with stars up to tenth magnitude. - Transit Instrument (aperture 6.5cm, focal length 80cm), made by Traugott Leberecht Ertel of Munich (1870)
- Transit Instrument, made by Repsold of Hamburg
- Marine Chronometer, Ulysse Nardin, Locle, Swisse (1892)
- Marine Chronometer, ....
- Pocket Chronometer, Ulysse Nardin, Locle, Switzerland (1900)
- Pocket Chronometer, Minuti terzi, Stefano Andrea Renieri (19th century)
- Chronograph, ....
- Altazimuth Telescope (aperture 7cm, focal length 123cm), made by Henry R. Shuttleworth of London (~1780)
- Refracting Telescope (aperture 3.8cm, focal length 49cm), made by Guiseppe Stefani of Padova (1831)
with 4 terrestrial eyepieces, 4 astronomical eyepieces, one pancratic eyepiece (negative focal length) for increasing the field of view - Reflecting Telescope (aperture 9cm, focal length 46cm), made by James Short of London (~1766)
- Refracting Telescope / Cannocchiale (objective aperture 37.5’’’ Paris lines = 7.9cm, 4 Paris foot = 130cm), made by Fraunhofer of Munich (....)
- Achromatic Telescope (aperture 8.5cm, focal length 130cm), made by Utzschneider & Fraunhofer of Munich (1822) with wooden table
- Altazimuth Telescope (aperture 11.7cm, focal length 95cm), made by Georg Merz of Munich (1842) with a mounting by the Christian Starke of Vienna - with an observing chair
- Comet Seeker (aperture 7.7cm, focal length 65cm), made by Georg Merz of Munich (1842) with a mounting by the Christian Starke of Vienna
- Equatorial Starke-Merz Refractor (aperture 11.6cm, focal length 164cm, diameter of the circles 27.5cm), made by Georg Merz of Munich (1858)
with a mounting by the Polytechnical Institute of Vienna (in the lower observatory).
A cylindric tower with a rotating dome was constructed for the refractor in 1861 above the Salle delle Figure.
- Equatorial Telescope (aperture 18.7cm, focal length 320cm), named Dembowski, made by Georg Merz of Munich (1862) (in the lower observatory).
The refractor was bought by Baron Ercole Dembowski (1812--1881) for his private observatory in Gallarate, Milan, and used for observing binaries.
In 1882, the refractor including the rotating dome was purchased by the Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova, and became the main instrument in the Specula until 1942.
Fig. 5a. Giuseppe Toaldo (1719--1797) - first Director of La Specola, Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova, 1767 to 1797 (CC0)
Fig. 5b. Giovanni Santini (1786--1877) - Director of La Specola, Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova, 1817 to 1877 (CC0)
Directors
- 1767 to 1797: Giuseppe Toaldo (1719--1797)
- 1797 to 1815: Vincenzo Chiminello (1745--1815)
- 1815 to 1817: Francesco Bertirossi-Busata (1778--1825) [de facto]
- 1817 to 1877: Giovanni Sante Gaspero Santini (1786--1877)
- 1877 to 1913: Giuseppe Lorenzoni (1843--1914)
- 1913 to 1925: Antonio Maria Antoniazzi (1872--1925)
- 1926 to 1952: Giovanni Silva (1882--1957)
- 1952 to 1956: Antonino Gennaro (1902--1962) [de facto]
- 1956 to 1982: Leonida Rosino (1915--1997)
- 1991 to 1999: Gianfranco de Zotti
- 1999 to 2005: Massimo Calvani
- 2005 to 2010: Enrico Cappellaro (*1957)
- 2011 to 2017: Massimo Turatto
- seit 2018: Roberto Ragazzoni (*1966)
State of preservation
La Specola, Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova, is well preserved. La Specola Museum, founded in 1994, has frescoes depicting famous astronomers and an impressive collection of astronomical instruments. In 1998, the Sala Figure was restored and it was thus possible to recover almost all the eighteenth-century frescoes.
Fig. 6. La Specola, Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova (1767), (INAF)
Comparison with related/similar sites
La Specola, Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova (Padua),
Vicolo dell’Osservatorio 5, 35122 Padova PD, Italy
Location
Latitude 45°24’06.91’’ N, 11°52’06.85’’ E, Elevation ...m above mean sea level.
IAU observatory code
533
Description of (scientific/cultural/natural) heritage
Fig. 1a. University of Padua (Università degli Studi di Padova), Palazzo Bo (1492), (Repro: Gudrun Wolfschmidt)
Fig. 1b. University of Padua (Università degli Studi di Padova), Palazzo Bo (1492), (Photo: Gudrun Wolfschmidt)
Fig. 1c. University of Padua (Università degli Studi di Padova), Palazzo Bo (1492), (Photo: Gudrun Wolfschmidt)
University of Padua (Università degli Studi di Padova)
The University of Padua (Università degli Studi di Padova) was founded in 1222 -- one of the oldest universities in Europe and the second oldest university in Italy after Bologna. Highlights are the Botanical Garden of Padova (1545) -- the oldest in the world (cf. Pisa, founded in 1544 by the Medici), and the remarkable oldest surviving Anatomical Theatre in Europe (1595).
Famous professors were Galilei (1564--1641 jul--1642 greg), professor of mathematics from 1592 to 1610, and Andreas Vesalius (1514--1564), professor of surgery and anatomy from 1537 to 1544 (De Humani Corporis Fabrica, 1543).
The coats of arms of professors and students can be found in the Aula Magna, Palazzo Bo in Padua
Fig. 1d. Seal of the University of Padua (© Università degli Studi di Padova)
Fig. 1e. Cathedra of Galilei with forty portraits of famous foreign scholars in the background, (Photo: Gudrun Wolfschmidt)
Famous students were Albertus Magnus (~1200--1280), Nicolas of Cusa (1401--1464), Nicolaus Copernicus (1473--1543), 1501 to 1503, Stephan Báthory (1533--1586), Prince of Transylvania, King of Poland (1576) and Grand Duke of Lithuania, Stephan Báthory University Observatory in Vilnius, William Harvey (1578--1657), described function of heart and circulatory system, Werner Rolfinck (1599--1673), promoted anatomy and chemistry studies in Germany, created in Jena an anatomical theatre, a botanical garden, and a chemistry laboratory on the Paduan model.
In 1678, Elena Lucrezia Cornaro Piscopia (1646--1684) was awarded a doctorate in philosophy, the first woman ever to do so. She was accepted as mathematics lecturer. Piscopia, a crater of 26 km in diameter on the planet Venus was dedicated to her.
La Specula
Fig. 2a. La Specola, Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova (1767), (CC3, Ivanfurlanis)
In 1761 the Venetian Senate decreed the establishment of an astronomical observatory for the University of Padua; the architect was Domenico Cerato (1715--1792) from Vicenza.
La Specola is a 14th-century tower, formerly part of a medieval castle, Castel Vecchio, and converted from 1767 to 1677 into an astronomical observatory. The access to the Specola was from what is now Piazza Castello. The first rooms are: Androne (Entrance), Scalone (Staircase) e Sala Iscrizione (Registration room), then Sala Colonna (Column Hall with a pillar in the middle supporting the vault above), Sala Meridiana (Meridian Hall) e Sala Figure (Figure Hall).
In 1773, the Specola got a lightning rod, a very innovative idea (invented by Benjamin Franklin in 1750), suggested by the Genevan professor Horace-Bénédict de Saussure (1740--1799) -- the first installation of a lightning rod in the Republic of Venice.
Fig. 2b. La Specola, Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova (1767)
In 1777, the tower was completed and housed two observation sites:- A lower observatory (Sala Meridiana), 16m above ground level, in order to carry out meridian observations; a precision pendulum clock was installed at the wall. A meridian line was created for determining the exact moment of local noon.
A large fresco is painted on the east wall which illustrates with great precision the geometric structure of the solar system known in Toaldo’s time.
- An upper observatory, Sala Figure (Figure Hall), an octagonal room at a height of 35m with large windows, almost six metres high, which allow 360 degree observation of the sky from inside. But the instruments, all equipped with mounts with wheels, could be moved also to the surrounding terrace, facing towards the South.
In 1772/73, the octagonal room was frescoed by the Vicenza painter Giacomo Ciesa (1733--1822) with astronomical subjects created by the first director Giuseppe Toaldo (1719--1797), eight portraits (1773) of famous astronomers: Ptolemaios, Copernicus, Tycho Brahe, Galilei, Kepler, Newton, Geminiano Montanari (1633--1687), Paduan chair of astronomy and meteorology from 1678 to 1687, Giovanni Poleni (1683--1761), chair of astronomy in 1709, physics in 1715, mathematics in 1719, and in 1739, the first European chair of Experimental Physics with a Theatre of Experimental Philosophy with almost four hundred scientific instruments. In addition, a band of the twelve zodiac signs was painted all around the vault.
Fig. 3. Vaults and six metres high windows in the upper floor of La Specola, Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova (1767), (INAF)
An inscription at the entrance by Abbé Toaldo (1771) states:
1242 / This tower, which once led to infernal shadows /
now, under the auspices of the Venetians, opens the way to the stars / 1767 (MCCXLII / QUAE QUONDAM INFERNAS TURRIS DUCEBAT AD UMBRAS/NUNC VENETUM AUSPICIIS PANDIT AD ASTRA VIAM / MDCCLXVII)
La Specola was initially an astronomical and meteorological observatory, but since 1817 it has been exclusively concerned with astronomical observations.
An important task was the timekeeping, the average time of Rome was transmitted telegraphically, twice a week, to the Scientific Office of the Navy of Venice, which thus regulated the chronometers of ships departing from the Arsenale.
Giuseppe Lorenzoni (1843--1914) started astrophysics, and observed the total solar eclipse from Sicily in 1870, especially the solar corona with a direct vision spectroscope. He discovered a bright line at 4472 Å which came to be called the Lorenzoni f line.
In 1923, the observatory was separated from the university, but continued to work with the local Galileo-Galilei Department of Physics and Astronomy.
In 1942, the University of Padua decided to built a modern facility, represented by the Asiago Astrophysical Observatory on a plateau north of Padova. Some rooms of the Specula, which was no longer used to carry out astronomical observations, were then transformed to house the ancient library and archive.
In 1994, a new building, the so-called Castelvecchio Munizioniere House, was acquired, so that the whole Specula Tower could be used as museum.
History
Fig. 4. Instruments of La Specola, Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova, (INAF)
Instruments
- Celestial and Terrestrial Globes (diameter 38.2cm), made by John Newton of London (1785/1787)
- Celestial Globe (diameter 97cm), made by Carl Adami of Berlin (1854)
- Terrestrial Globe (diameter 63cm), made by Joseph Jütter of Vienna (1839)
- Lunar Globes
- Globe of Mars (diameter 11cm, height 18cm), made by E. Bertaux of Paris (~1880)
- Globe of Mars (diameter 10cm, height 22cm), made by J. Lebèque of Bruxelles (~1890)
- Armillary Sphere (diameter 10cm, height 28cm, height 50cm), made by Ferdinando Arlaria of Milan (~1810)
- Meteorological instruments:
Heliograph (sunshine recorder), Negretti & Zambra of London
Rain Gauges (1770) - Geodetic instruments (Commissione Italiana per la misura dei gradi in Europa)
- Angle Measuring Instrument (diameter 25cm), made by Guiseppe Stefani of Padova (1827)
- Seismological instruments:
Seismoscope, made by F.lli Brassart of Rome (1888)
- Large Mural Quadrant (Radius 244cm, with achromatic refractor, aperture 70cm, focal length 87cm), made by Jesse Ramsden of London (1776)
- Small Mural Quadrant
- Small Altazimuth Quadrant (Radius 15cm, with refractor, aperture 1.8cm, focal length 33cm), made by Antonio Fabris of Bovolenta/Padova
- Telescope with Quadrant, Anton Fabri ....
- Moveable Quadrant (Radius 120cm, with refractor, aperture 4cm, focal length 130cm), made by Bernardino Zendini of Venice (1st half 18th century)
- Moveable Quadrant (Radius 65cm, with achromatic refractor, aperture 6cm, focal length 98cm), made by George Adams of London (~1780)
- Moveable Sextant (Radius 35cm), made by Jesse Ramsden of London (1780)
- Meridian Line (1776, 1858)
- Pendulum Clock, made by the Venetian clockmaker Zuane Riva (1766), penulum Riva-Rodella (1874)
- Pendulum Clock, made by John Grant of London (1780)
- Pendulum Clock, made by the C. Frodsham & Co of London (19th century)
- Precision Pendulum Clock (No. 164), made by S. Riefler of Munich (1905)
- Repeating Circle (diameter 32cm), Georg Reichenbach of Munich (1815)
- Reflecting Circle (diameter 26cm), made by Guiseppe Stefani of Padova (1807)
- Reflecting Circle (diameter 25cm), made by Johann A.D. Örtling of Berlin (1845)
- Repeating Theodolite (diameter 13.5cm), made by Sante Mioni of Padova (1890)
- Dividing Machine (diameter 74cm), made by Guiseppe Stefani of Padova (1827)
- Meridian Circle, made by the K.K. Politechn. Institut in Wien -- Chr. Starke [Polytechnical Institute of Vienna] (1836)
in an octagonal pavilion.
The original objective of the telescope, made by Utzschneider & Fraunhofer of Munich, had an aperture of 10.9cm and a focal length of 163.5cm.
In 1911, it was replaced with the current one, made by Carl Zeiss of Jena, with a slightly larger aperture (11cm) and focal length (164cm) than the original.
In 1858, Santini purchased a micrometer, made by Stampfer of Vienna, which was capable of producing bright lines and points in the dark field in the focal plane, to be used as an alternative to the original wire micrometer. In 1914, the mechanical workshop of the Sante Miloni Observatory created a new and modern micrometer.
Also fundamental to the instrument was the ’meridian mire’ that Santini had placed in 1842, on the occasion of the IV Congress of Italian Scientists, in the current gardens of the Bastione S. Croce, in an elevated place visible from the Specola. This stone stele was the meridian target that was used to align the instrument with the celestial meridian.
Santini’s observations with the meridian circle in collaboration with Virgilio Trettenero, which they carried out for a period of about 30 years, resulted in the five Padua Catalogues,
also known as the Santini Catalogues, comprising a total of almost 10,000 stars, with stars up to tenth magnitude. - Transit Instrument (aperture 6.5cm, focal length 80cm), made by Traugott Leberecht Ertel of Munich (1870)
- Transit Instrument, made by Repsold of Hamburg
- Marine Chronometer, Ulysse Nardin, Locle, Swisse (1892)
- Marine Chronometer, ....
- Pocket Chronometer, Ulysse Nardin, Locle, Switzerland (1900)
- Pocket Chronometer, Minuti terzi, Stefano Andrea Renieri (19th century)
- Chronograph, ....
- Altazimuth Telescope (aperture 7cm, focal length 123cm), made by Henry R. Shuttleworth of London (~1780)
- Refracting Telescope (aperture 3.8cm, focal length 49cm), made by Guiseppe Stefani of Padova (1831)
with 4 terrestrial eyepieces, 4 astronomical eyepieces, one pancratic eyepiece (negative focal length) for increasing the field of view - Reflecting Telescope (aperture 9cm, focal length 46cm), made by James Short of London (~1766)
- Refracting Telescope / Cannocchiale (objective aperture 37.5’’’ Paris lines = 7.9cm, 4 Paris foot = 130cm), made by Fraunhofer of Munich (....)
- Achromatic Telescope (aperture 8.5cm, focal length 130cm), made by Utzschneider & Fraunhofer of Munich (1822) with wooden table
- Altazimuth Telescope (aperture 11.7cm, focal length 95cm), made by Georg Merz of Munich (1842) with a mounting by the Christian Starke of Vienna - with an observing chair
- Comet Seeker (aperture 7.7cm, focal length 65cm), made by Georg Merz of Munich (1842) with a mounting by the Christian Starke of Vienna
- Equatorial Starke-Merz Refractor (aperture 11.6cm, focal length 164cm, diameter of the circles 27.5cm), made by Georg Merz of Munich (1858)
with a mounting by the Polytechnical Institute of Vienna (in the lower observatory).
A cylindric tower with a rotating dome was constructed for the refractor in 1861 above the Salle delle Figure.
- Equatorial Telescope (aperture 18.7cm, focal length 320cm), named Dembowski, made by Georg Merz of Munich (1862) (in the lower observatory).
The refractor was bought by Baron Ercole Dembowski (1812--1881) for his private observatory in Gallarate, Milan, and used for observing binaries.
In 1882, the refractor including the rotating dome was purchased by the Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova, and became the main instrument in the Specula until 1942.
Fig. 5a. Giuseppe Toaldo (1719--1797) - first Director of La Specola, Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova, 1767 to 1797 (CC0)
Fig. 5b. Giovanni Santini (1786--1877) - Director of La Specola, Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova, 1817 to 1877 (CC0)
Directors
- 1767 to 1797: Giuseppe Toaldo (1719--1797)
- 1797 to 1815: Vincenzo Chiminello (1745--1815)
- 1815 to 1817: Francesco Bertirossi-Busata (1778--1825) [de facto]
- 1817 to 1877: Giovanni Sante Gaspero Santini (1786--1877)
- 1877 to 1913: Giuseppe Lorenzoni (1843--1914)
- 1913 to 1925: Antonio Maria Antoniazzi (1872--1925)
- 1926 to 1952: Giovanni Silva (1882--1957)
- 1952 to 1956: Antonino Gennaro (1902--1962) [de facto]
- 1956 to 1982: Leonida Rosino (1915--1997)
- 1991 to 1999: Gianfranco de Zotti
- 1999 to 2005: Massimo Calvani
- 2005 to 2010: Enrico Cappellaro (*1957)
- 2011 to 2017: Massimo Turatto
- seit 2018: Roberto Ragazzoni (*1966)
State of preservation
La Specola, Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova, is well preserved. La Specola Museum, founded in 1994, has frescoes depicting famous astronomers and an impressive collection of astronomical instruments. In 1998, the Sala Figure was restored and it was thus possible to recover almost all the eighteenth-century frescoes.
Fig. 6. La Specola, Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova (1767), (INAF)
Comparison with related/similar sites
Latitude 45°24’06.91’’ N, 11°52’06.85’’ E, Elevation ...m above mean sea level.
IAU observatory code
533
Description of (scientific/cultural/natural) heritage
Fig. 1a. University of Padua (Università degli Studi di Padova), Palazzo Bo (1492), (Repro: Gudrun Wolfschmidt)
Fig. 1b. University of Padua (Università degli Studi di Padova), Palazzo Bo (1492), (Photo: Gudrun Wolfschmidt)
Fig. 1c. University of Padua (Università degli Studi di Padova), Palazzo Bo (1492), (Photo: Gudrun Wolfschmidt)
University of Padua (Università degli Studi di Padova)
The University of Padua (Università degli Studi di Padova) was founded in 1222 -- one of the oldest universities in Europe and the second oldest university in Italy after Bologna. Highlights are the Botanical Garden of Padova (1545) -- the oldest in the world (cf. Pisa, founded in 1544 by the Medici), and the remarkable oldest surviving Anatomical Theatre in Europe (1595).
Famous professors were Galilei (1564--1641 jul--1642 greg), professor of mathematics from 1592 to 1610, and Andreas Vesalius (1514--1564), professor of surgery and anatomy from 1537 to 1544 (De Humani Corporis Fabrica, 1543).
The coats of arms of professors and students can be found in the Aula Magna, Palazzo Bo in Padua
Fig. 1d. Seal of the University of Padua (© Università degli Studi di Padova)
Fig. 1e. Cathedra of Galilei with forty portraits of famous foreign scholars in the background, (Photo: Gudrun Wolfschmidt)
Famous students were Albertus Magnus (~1200--1280), Nicolas of Cusa (1401--1464), Nicolaus Copernicus (1473--1543), 1501 to 1503, Stephan Báthory (1533--1586), Prince of Transylvania, King of Poland (1576) and Grand Duke of Lithuania, Stephan Báthory University Observatory in Vilnius, William Harvey (1578--1657), described function of heart and circulatory system, Werner Rolfinck (1599--1673), promoted anatomy and chemistry studies in Germany, created in Jena an anatomical theatre, a botanical garden, and a chemistry laboratory on the Paduan model.
In 1678, Elena Lucrezia Cornaro Piscopia (1646--1684) was awarded a doctorate in philosophy, the first woman ever to do so. She was accepted as mathematics lecturer. Piscopia, a crater of 26 km in diameter on the planet Venus was dedicated to her.
La Specula
Fig. 2a. La Specola, Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova (1767), (CC3, Ivanfurlanis)
In 1761 the Venetian Senate decreed the establishment of an astronomical observatory for the University of Padua; the architect was Domenico Cerato (1715--1792) from Vicenza.
La Specola is a 14th-century tower, formerly part of a medieval castle, Castel Vecchio, and converted from 1767 to 1677 into an astronomical observatory. The access to the Specola was from what is now Piazza Castello. The first rooms are: Androne (Entrance), Scalone (Staircase) e Sala Iscrizione (Registration room), then Sala Colonna (Column Hall with a pillar in the middle supporting the vault above), Sala Meridiana (Meridian Hall) e Sala Figure (Figure Hall).
In 1773, the Specola got a lightning rod, a very innovative idea (invented by Benjamin Franklin in 1750), suggested by the Genevan professor Horace-Bénédict de Saussure (1740--1799) -- the first installation of a lightning rod in the Republic of Venice.
Fig. 2b. La Specola, Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova (1767)
In 1777, the tower was completed and housed two observation sites:- A lower observatory (Sala Meridiana), 16m above ground level, in order to carry out meridian observations; a precision pendulum clock was installed at the wall. A meridian line was created for determining the exact moment of local noon.
A large fresco is painted on the east wall which illustrates with great precision the geometric structure of the solar system known in Toaldo’s time.
- An upper observatory, Sala Figure (Figure Hall), an octagonal room at a height of 35m with large windows, almost six metres high, which allow 360 degree observation of the sky from inside. But the instruments, all equipped with mounts with wheels, could be moved also to the surrounding terrace, facing towards the South.
In 1772/73, the octagonal room was frescoed by the Vicenza painter Giacomo Ciesa (1733--1822) with astronomical subjects created by the first director Giuseppe Toaldo (1719--1797), eight portraits (1773) of famous astronomers: Ptolemaios, Copernicus, Tycho Brahe, Galilei, Kepler, Newton, Geminiano Montanari (1633--1687), Paduan chair of astronomy and meteorology from 1678 to 1687, Giovanni Poleni (1683--1761), chair of astronomy in 1709, physics in 1715, mathematics in 1719, and in 1739, the first European chair of Experimental Physics with a Theatre of Experimental Philosophy with almost four hundred scientific instruments. In addition, a band of the twelve zodiac signs was painted all around the vault.
Fig. 3. Vaults and six metres high windows in the upper floor of La Specola, Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova (1767), (INAF)
An inscription at the entrance by Abbé Toaldo (1771) states:
1242 / This tower, which once led to infernal shadows /
now, under the auspices of the Venetians, opens the way to the stars / 1767 (MCCXLII / QUAE QUONDAM INFERNAS TURRIS DUCEBAT AD UMBRAS/NUNC VENETUM AUSPICIIS PANDIT AD ASTRA VIAM / MDCCLXVII)
La Specola was initially an astronomical and meteorological observatory, but since 1817 it has been exclusively concerned with astronomical observations.
An important task was the timekeeping, the average time of Rome was transmitted telegraphically, twice a week, to the Scientific Office of the Navy of Venice, which thus regulated the chronometers of ships departing from the Arsenale.
Giuseppe Lorenzoni (1843--1914) started astrophysics, and observed the total solar eclipse from Sicily in 1870, especially the solar corona with a direct vision spectroscope. He discovered a bright line at 4472 Å which came to be called the Lorenzoni f line.
In 1923, the observatory was separated from the university, but continued to work with the local Galileo-Galilei Department of Physics and Astronomy.
In 1942, the University of Padua decided to built a modern facility, represented by the Asiago Astrophysical Observatory on a plateau north of Padova. Some rooms of the Specula, which was no longer used to carry out astronomical observations, were then transformed to house the ancient library and archive.
In 1994, a new building, the so-called Castelvecchio Munizioniere House, was acquired, so that the whole Specula Tower could be used as museum.
History
Fig. 4. Instruments of La Specola, Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova, (INAF)
Instruments
- Celestial and Terrestrial Globes (diameter 38.2cm), made by John Newton of London (1785/1787)
- Celestial Globe (diameter 97cm), made by Carl Adami of Berlin (1854)
- Terrestrial Globe (diameter 63cm), made by Joseph Jütter of Vienna (1839)
- Lunar Globes
- Globe of Mars (diameter 11cm, height 18cm), made by E. Bertaux of Paris (~1880)
- Globe of Mars (diameter 10cm, height 22cm), made by J. Lebèque of Bruxelles (~1890)
- Armillary Sphere (diameter 10cm, height 28cm, height 50cm), made by Ferdinando Arlaria of Milan (~1810)
- Meteorological instruments:
Heliograph (sunshine recorder), Negretti & Zambra of London
Rain Gauges (1770) - Geodetic instruments (Commissione Italiana per la misura dei gradi in Europa)
- Angle Measuring Instrument (diameter 25cm), made by Guiseppe Stefani of Padova (1827)
- Seismological instruments:
Seismoscope, made by F.lli Brassart of Rome (1888)
- Large Mural Quadrant (Radius 244cm, with achromatic refractor, aperture 70cm, focal length 87cm), made by Jesse Ramsden of London (1776)
- Small Mural Quadrant
- Small Altazimuth Quadrant (Radius 15cm, with refractor, aperture 1.8cm, focal length 33cm), made by Antonio Fabris of Bovolenta/Padova
- Telescope with Quadrant, Anton Fabri ....
- Moveable Quadrant (Radius 120cm, with refractor, aperture 4cm, focal length 130cm), made by Bernardino Zendini of Venice (1st half 18th century)
- Moveable Quadrant (Radius 65cm, with achromatic refractor, aperture 6cm, focal length 98cm), made by George Adams of London (~1780)
- Moveable Sextant (Radius 35cm), made by Jesse Ramsden of London (1780)
- Meridian Line (1776, 1858)
- Pendulum Clock, made by the Venetian clockmaker Zuane Riva (1766), penulum Riva-Rodella (1874)
- Pendulum Clock, made by John Grant of London (1780)
- Pendulum Clock, made by the C. Frodsham & Co of London (19th century)
- Precision Pendulum Clock (No. 164), made by S. Riefler of Munich (1905)
- Repeating Circle (diameter 32cm), Georg Reichenbach of Munich (1815)
- Reflecting Circle (diameter 26cm), made by Guiseppe Stefani of Padova (1807)
- Reflecting Circle (diameter 25cm), made by Johann A.D. Örtling of Berlin (1845)
- Repeating Theodolite (diameter 13.5cm), made by Sante Mioni of Padova (1890)
- Dividing Machine (diameter 74cm), made by Guiseppe Stefani of Padova (1827)
- Meridian Circle, made by the K.K. Politechn. Institut in Wien -- Chr. Starke [Polytechnical Institute of Vienna] (1836)
in an octagonal pavilion.
The original objective of the telescope, made by Utzschneider & Fraunhofer of Munich, had an aperture of 10.9cm and a focal length of 163.5cm.
In 1911, it was replaced with the current one, made by Carl Zeiss of Jena, with a slightly larger aperture (11cm) and focal length (164cm) than the original.
In 1858, Santini purchased a micrometer, made by Stampfer of Vienna, which was capable of producing bright lines and points in the dark field in the focal plane, to be used as an alternative to the original wire micrometer. In 1914, the mechanical workshop of the Sante Miloni Observatory created a new and modern micrometer.
Also fundamental to the instrument was the ’meridian mire’ that Santini had placed in 1842, on the occasion of the IV Congress of Italian Scientists, in the current gardens of the Bastione S. Croce, in an elevated place visible from the Specola. This stone stele was the meridian target that was used to align the instrument with the celestial meridian.
Santini’s observations with the meridian circle in collaboration with Virgilio Trettenero, which they carried out for a period of about 30 years, resulted in the five Padua Catalogues,
also known as the Santini Catalogues, comprising a total of almost 10,000 stars, with stars up to tenth magnitude. - Transit Instrument (aperture 6.5cm, focal length 80cm), made by Traugott Leberecht Ertel of Munich (1870)
- Transit Instrument, made by Repsold of Hamburg
- Marine Chronometer, Ulysse Nardin, Locle, Swisse (1892)
- Marine Chronometer, ....
- Pocket Chronometer, Ulysse Nardin, Locle, Switzerland (1900)
- Pocket Chronometer, Minuti terzi, Stefano Andrea Renieri (19th century)
- Chronograph, ....
- Altazimuth Telescope (aperture 7cm, focal length 123cm), made by Henry R. Shuttleworth of London (~1780)
- Refracting Telescope (aperture 3.8cm, focal length 49cm), made by Guiseppe Stefani of Padova (1831)
with 4 terrestrial eyepieces, 4 astronomical eyepieces, one pancratic eyepiece (negative focal length) for increasing the field of view - Reflecting Telescope (aperture 9cm, focal length 46cm), made by James Short of London (~1766)
- Refracting Telescope / Cannocchiale (objective aperture 37.5’’’ Paris lines = 7.9cm, 4 Paris foot = 130cm), made by Fraunhofer of Munich (....)
- Achromatic Telescope (aperture 8.5cm, focal length 130cm), made by Utzschneider & Fraunhofer of Munich (1822) with wooden table
- Altazimuth Telescope (aperture 11.7cm, focal length 95cm), made by Georg Merz of Munich (1842) with a mounting by the Christian Starke of Vienna - with an observing chair
- Comet Seeker (aperture 7.7cm, focal length 65cm), made by Georg Merz of Munich (1842) with a mounting by the Christian Starke of Vienna
- Equatorial Starke-Merz Refractor (aperture 11.6cm, focal length 164cm, diameter of the circles 27.5cm), made by Georg Merz of Munich (1858)
with a mounting by the Polytechnical Institute of Vienna (in the lower observatory).
A cylindric tower with a rotating dome was constructed for the refractor in 1861 above the Salle delle Figure.
- Equatorial Telescope (aperture 18.7cm, focal length 320cm), named Dembowski, made by Georg Merz of Munich (1862) (in the lower observatory).
The refractor was bought by Baron Ercole Dembowski (1812--1881) for his private observatory in Gallarate, Milan, and used for observing binaries.
In 1882, the refractor including the rotating dome was purchased by the Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova, and became the main instrument in the Specula until 1942.
Fig. 5a. Giuseppe Toaldo (1719--1797) - first Director of La Specola, Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova, 1767 to 1797 (CC0)
Fig. 5b. Giovanni Santini (1786--1877) - Director of La Specola, Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova, 1817 to 1877 (CC0)
Directors
- 1767 to 1797: Giuseppe Toaldo (1719--1797)
- 1797 to 1815: Vincenzo Chiminello (1745--1815)
- 1815 to 1817: Francesco Bertirossi-Busata (1778--1825) [de facto]
- 1817 to 1877: Giovanni Sante Gaspero Santini (1786--1877)
- 1877 to 1913: Giuseppe Lorenzoni (1843--1914)
- 1913 to 1925: Antonio Maria Antoniazzi (1872--1925)
- 1926 to 1952: Giovanni Silva (1882--1957)
- 1952 to 1956: Antonino Gennaro (1902--1962) [de facto]
- 1956 to 1982: Leonida Rosino (1915--1997)
- 1991 to 1999: Gianfranco de Zotti
- 1999 to 2005: Massimo Calvani
- 2005 to 2010: Enrico Cappellaro (*1957)
- 2011 to 2017: Massimo Turatto
- seit 2018: Roberto Ragazzoni (*1966)
State of preservation
La Specola, Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova, is well preserved. La Specola Museum, founded in 1994, has frescoes depicting famous astronomers and an impressive collection of astronomical instruments. In 1998, the Sala Figure was restored and it was thus possible to recover almost all the eighteenth-century frescoes.
Fig. 6. La Specola, Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova (1767), (INAF)
Comparison with related/similar sites
533
Description of (scientific/cultural/natural) heritage
Fig. 1a. University of Padua (Università degli Studi di Padova), Palazzo Bo (1492), (Repro: Gudrun Wolfschmidt)
Fig. 1b. University of Padua (Università degli Studi di Padova), Palazzo Bo (1492), (Photo: Gudrun Wolfschmidt)
Fig. 1c. University of Padua (Università degli Studi di Padova), Palazzo Bo (1492), (Photo: Gudrun Wolfschmidt)
University of Padua (Università degli Studi di Padova)
The University of Padua (Università degli Studi di Padova) was founded in 1222 -- one of the oldest universities in Europe and the second oldest university in Italy after Bologna. Highlights are the Botanical Garden of Padova (1545) -- the oldest in the world (cf. Pisa, founded in 1544 by the Medici), and the remarkable oldest surviving Anatomical Theatre in Europe (1595).
Famous professors were Galilei (1564--1641 jul--1642 greg), professor of mathematics from 1592 to 1610, and Andreas Vesalius (1514--1564), professor of surgery and anatomy from 1537 to 1544 (De Humani Corporis Fabrica, 1543).
The coats of arms of professors and students can be found in the Aula Magna, Palazzo Bo in Padua
Fig. 1d. Seal of the University of Padua (© Università degli Studi di Padova)
Fig. 1e. Cathedra of Galilei with forty portraits of famous foreign scholars in the background, (Photo: Gudrun Wolfschmidt)
Famous students were Albertus Magnus (~1200--1280), Nicolas of Cusa (1401--1464), Nicolaus Copernicus (1473--1543), 1501 to 1503, Stephan Báthory (1533--1586), Prince of Transylvania, King of Poland (1576) and Grand Duke of Lithuania, Stephan Báthory University Observatory in Vilnius, William Harvey (1578--1657), described function of heart and circulatory system, Werner Rolfinck (1599--1673), promoted anatomy and chemistry studies in Germany, created in Jena an anatomical theatre, a botanical garden, and a chemistry laboratory on the Paduan model.
In 1678, Elena Lucrezia Cornaro Piscopia (1646--1684) was awarded a doctorate in philosophy, the first woman ever to do so. She was accepted as mathematics lecturer. Piscopia, a crater of 26 km in diameter on the planet Venus was dedicated to her.
La Specula
Fig. 2a. La Specola, Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova (1767), (CC3, Ivanfurlanis)
In 1761 the Venetian Senate decreed the establishment of an astronomical observatory for the University of Padua; the architect was Domenico Cerato (1715--1792) from Vicenza.
La Specola is a 14th-century tower, formerly part of a medieval castle, Castel Vecchio, and converted from 1767 to 1677 into an astronomical observatory. The access to the Specola was from what is now Piazza Castello. The first rooms are: Androne (Entrance), Scalone (Staircase) e Sala Iscrizione (Registration room), then Sala Colonna (Column Hall with a pillar in the middle supporting the vault above), Sala Meridiana (Meridian Hall) e Sala Figure (Figure Hall).
In 1773, the Specola got a lightning rod, a very innovative idea (invented by Benjamin Franklin in 1750), suggested by the Genevan professor Horace-Bénédict de Saussure (1740--1799) -- the first installation of a lightning rod in the Republic of Venice.
Fig. 2b. La Specola, Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova (1767)
In 1777, the tower was completed and housed two observation sites:- A lower observatory (Sala Meridiana), 16m above ground level, in order to carry out meridian observations; a precision pendulum clock was installed at the wall. A meridian line was created for determining the exact moment of local noon.
A large fresco is painted on the east wall which illustrates with great precision the geometric structure of the solar system known in Toaldo’s time.
- An upper observatory, Sala Figure (Figure Hall), an octagonal room at a height of 35m with large windows, almost six metres high, which allow 360 degree observation of the sky from inside. But the instruments, all equipped with mounts with wheels, could be moved also to the surrounding terrace, facing towards the South.
In 1772/73, the octagonal room was frescoed by the Vicenza painter Giacomo Ciesa (1733--1822) with astronomical subjects created by the first director Giuseppe Toaldo (1719--1797), eight portraits (1773) of famous astronomers: Ptolemaios, Copernicus, Tycho Brahe, Galilei, Kepler, Newton, Geminiano Montanari (1633--1687), Paduan chair of astronomy and meteorology from 1678 to 1687, Giovanni Poleni (1683--1761), chair of astronomy in 1709, physics in 1715, mathematics in 1719, and in 1739, the first European chair of Experimental Physics with a Theatre of Experimental Philosophy with almost four hundred scientific instruments. In addition, a band of the twelve zodiac signs was painted all around the vault.
Fig. 3. Vaults and six metres high windows in the upper floor of La Specola, Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova (1767), (INAF)
An inscription at the entrance by Abbé Toaldo (1771) states:
1242 / This tower, which once led to infernal shadows /
now, under the auspices of the Venetians, opens the way to the stars / 1767 (MCCXLII / QUAE QUONDAM INFERNAS TURRIS DUCEBAT AD UMBRAS/NUNC VENETUM AUSPICIIS PANDIT AD ASTRA VIAM / MDCCLXVII)
La Specola was initially an astronomical and meteorological observatory, but since 1817 it has been exclusively concerned with astronomical observations.
An important task was the timekeeping, the average time of Rome was transmitted telegraphically, twice a week, to the Scientific Office of the Navy of Venice, which thus regulated the chronometers of ships departing from the Arsenale.
Giuseppe Lorenzoni (1843--1914) started astrophysics, and observed the total solar eclipse from Sicily in 1870, especially the solar corona with a direct vision spectroscope. He discovered a bright line at 4472 Å which came to be called the Lorenzoni f line.
In 1923, the observatory was separated from the university, but continued to work with the local Galileo-Galilei Department of Physics and Astronomy.
In 1942, the University of Padua decided to built a modern facility, represented by the Asiago Astrophysical Observatory on a plateau north of Padova. Some rooms of the Specula, which was no longer used to carry out astronomical observations, were then transformed to house the ancient library and archive.
In 1994, a new building, the so-called Castelvecchio Munizioniere House, was acquired, so that the whole Specula Tower could be used as museum.
History
Fig. 4. Instruments of La Specola, Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova, (INAF)
Instruments
- Celestial and Terrestrial Globes (diameter 38.2cm), made by John Newton of London (1785/1787)
- Celestial Globe (diameter 97cm), made by Carl Adami of Berlin (1854)
- Terrestrial Globe (diameter 63cm), made by Joseph Jütter of Vienna (1839)
- Lunar Globes
- Globe of Mars (diameter 11cm, height 18cm), made by E. Bertaux of Paris (~1880)
- Globe of Mars (diameter 10cm, height 22cm), made by J. Lebèque of Bruxelles (~1890)
- Armillary Sphere (diameter 10cm, height 28cm, height 50cm), made by Ferdinando Arlaria of Milan (~1810)
- Meteorological instruments:
Heliograph (sunshine recorder), Negretti & Zambra of London
Rain Gauges (1770) - Geodetic instruments (Commissione Italiana per la misura dei gradi in Europa)
- Angle Measuring Instrument (diameter 25cm), made by Guiseppe Stefani of Padova (1827)
- Seismological instruments:
Seismoscope, made by F.lli Brassart of Rome (1888)
- Large Mural Quadrant (Radius 244cm, with achromatic refractor, aperture 70cm, focal length 87cm), made by Jesse Ramsden of London (1776)
- Small Mural Quadrant
- Small Altazimuth Quadrant (Radius 15cm, with refractor, aperture 1.8cm, focal length 33cm), made by Antonio Fabris of Bovolenta/Padova
- Telescope with Quadrant, Anton Fabri ....
- Moveable Quadrant (Radius 120cm, with refractor, aperture 4cm, focal length 130cm), made by Bernardino Zendini of Venice (1st half 18th century)
- Moveable Quadrant (Radius 65cm, with achromatic refractor, aperture 6cm, focal length 98cm), made by George Adams of London (~1780)
- Moveable Sextant (Radius 35cm), made by Jesse Ramsden of London (1780)
- Meridian Line (1776, 1858)
- Pendulum Clock, made by the Venetian clockmaker Zuane Riva (1766), penulum Riva-Rodella (1874)
- Pendulum Clock, made by John Grant of London (1780)
- Pendulum Clock, made by the C. Frodsham & Co of London (19th century)
- Precision Pendulum Clock (No. 164), made by S. Riefler of Munich (1905)
- Repeating Circle (diameter 32cm), Georg Reichenbach of Munich (1815)
- Reflecting Circle (diameter 26cm), made by Guiseppe Stefani of Padova (1807)
- Reflecting Circle (diameter 25cm), made by Johann A.D. Örtling of Berlin (1845)
- Repeating Theodolite (diameter 13.5cm), made by Sante Mioni of Padova (1890)
- Dividing Machine (diameter 74cm), made by Guiseppe Stefani of Padova (1827)
- Meridian Circle, made by the K.K. Politechn. Institut in Wien -- Chr. Starke [Polytechnical Institute of Vienna] (1836)
in an octagonal pavilion.
The original objective of the telescope, made by Utzschneider & Fraunhofer of Munich, had an aperture of 10.9cm and a focal length of 163.5cm.
In 1911, it was replaced with the current one, made by Carl Zeiss of Jena, with a slightly larger aperture (11cm) and focal length (164cm) than the original.
In 1858, Santini purchased a micrometer, made by Stampfer of Vienna, which was capable of producing bright lines and points in the dark field in the focal plane, to be used as an alternative to the original wire micrometer. In 1914, the mechanical workshop of the Sante Miloni Observatory created a new and modern micrometer.
Also fundamental to the instrument was the ’meridian mire’ that Santini had placed in 1842, on the occasion of the IV Congress of Italian Scientists, in the current gardens of the Bastione S. Croce, in an elevated place visible from the Specola. This stone stele was the meridian target that was used to align the instrument with the celestial meridian.
Santini’s observations with the meridian circle in collaboration with Virgilio Trettenero, which they carried out for a period of about 30 years, resulted in the five Padua Catalogues,
also known as the Santini Catalogues, comprising a total of almost 10,000 stars, with stars up to tenth magnitude. - Transit Instrument (aperture 6.5cm, focal length 80cm), made by Traugott Leberecht Ertel of Munich (1870)
- Transit Instrument, made by Repsold of Hamburg
- Marine Chronometer, Ulysse Nardin, Locle, Swisse (1892)
- Marine Chronometer, ....
- Pocket Chronometer, Ulysse Nardin, Locle, Switzerland (1900)
- Pocket Chronometer, Minuti terzi, Stefano Andrea Renieri (19th century)
- Chronograph, ....
- Altazimuth Telescope (aperture 7cm, focal length 123cm), made by Henry R. Shuttleworth of London (~1780)
- Refracting Telescope (aperture 3.8cm, focal length 49cm), made by Guiseppe Stefani of Padova (1831)
with 4 terrestrial eyepieces, 4 astronomical eyepieces, one pancratic eyepiece (negative focal length) for increasing the field of view - Reflecting Telescope (aperture 9cm, focal length 46cm), made by James Short of London (~1766)
- Refracting Telescope / Cannocchiale (objective aperture 37.5’’’ Paris lines = 7.9cm, 4 Paris foot = 130cm), made by Fraunhofer of Munich (....)
- Achromatic Telescope (aperture 8.5cm, focal length 130cm), made by Utzschneider & Fraunhofer of Munich (1822) with wooden table
- Altazimuth Telescope (aperture 11.7cm, focal length 95cm), made by Georg Merz of Munich (1842) with a mounting by the Christian Starke of Vienna - with an observing chair
- Comet Seeker (aperture 7.7cm, focal length 65cm), made by Georg Merz of Munich (1842) with a mounting by the Christian Starke of Vienna
- Equatorial Starke-Merz Refractor (aperture 11.6cm, focal length 164cm, diameter of the circles 27.5cm), made by Georg Merz of Munich (1858)
with a mounting by the Polytechnical Institute of Vienna (in the lower observatory).
A cylindric tower with a rotating dome was constructed for the refractor in 1861 above the Salle delle Figure.
- Equatorial Telescope (aperture 18.7cm, focal length 320cm), named Dembowski, made by Georg Merz of Munich (1862) (in the lower observatory).
The refractor was bought by Baron Ercole Dembowski (1812--1881) for his private observatory in Gallarate, Milan, and used for observing binaries.
In 1882, the refractor including the rotating dome was purchased by the Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova, and became the main instrument in the Specula until 1942.
Fig. 5a. Giuseppe Toaldo (1719--1797) - first Director of La Specola, Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova, 1767 to 1797 (CC0)
Fig. 5b. Giovanni Santini (1786--1877) - Director of La Specola, Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova, 1817 to 1877 (CC0)
Directors
- 1767 to 1797: Giuseppe Toaldo (1719--1797)
- 1797 to 1815: Vincenzo Chiminello (1745--1815)
- 1815 to 1817: Francesco Bertirossi-Busata (1778--1825) [de facto]
- 1817 to 1877: Giovanni Sante Gaspero Santini (1786--1877)
- 1877 to 1913: Giuseppe Lorenzoni (1843--1914)
- 1913 to 1925: Antonio Maria Antoniazzi (1872--1925)
- 1926 to 1952: Giovanni Silva (1882--1957)
- 1952 to 1956: Antonino Gennaro (1902--1962) [de facto]
- 1956 to 1982: Leonida Rosino (1915--1997)
- 1991 to 1999: Gianfranco de Zotti
- 1999 to 2005: Massimo Calvani
- 2005 to 2010: Enrico Cappellaro (*1957)
- 2011 to 2017: Massimo Turatto
- seit 2018: Roberto Ragazzoni (*1966)
State of preservation
La Specola, Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova, is well preserved. La Specola Museum, founded in 1994, has frescoes depicting famous astronomers and an impressive collection of astronomical instruments. In 1998, the Sala Figure was restored and it was thus possible to recover almost all the eighteenth-century frescoes.
Fig. 6. La Specola, Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova (1767), (INAF)
Comparison with related/similar sites
Fig. 1a. University of Padua (Università degli Studi di Padova), Palazzo Bo (1492), (Repro: Gudrun Wolfschmidt)
Fig. 1b. University of Padua (Università degli Studi di Padova), Palazzo Bo (1492), (Photo: Gudrun Wolfschmidt)
Fig. 1c. University of Padua (Università degli Studi di Padova), Palazzo Bo (1492), (Photo: Gudrun Wolfschmidt)
University of Padua (Università degli Studi di Padova)
The University of Padua (Università degli Studi di Padova) was founded in 1222 -- one of the oldest universities in Europe and the second oldest university in Italy after Bologna. Highlights are the Botanical Garden of Padova (1545) -- the oldest in the world (cf. Pisa, founded in 1544 by the Medici), and the remarkable oldest surviving Anatomical Theatre in Europe (1595).
Famous professors were Galilei (1564--1641 jul--1642 greg), professor of mathematics from 1592 to 1610, and Andreas Vesalius (1514--1564), professor of surgery and anatomy from 1537 to 1544 (De Humani Corporis Fabrica, 1543).
The coats of arms of professors and students can be found in the Aula Magna, Palazzo Bo in Padua
Fig. 1d. Seal of the University of Padua (© Università degli Studi di Padova)
Fig. 1e. Cathedra of Galilei with forty portraits of famous foreign scholars in the background, (Photo: Gudrun Wolfschmidt)
Famous students were Albertus Magnus (~1200--1280), Nicolas of Cusa (1401--1464), Nicolaus Copernicus (1473--1543), 1501 to 1503, Stephan Báthory (1533--1586), Prince of Transylvania, King of Poland (1576) and Grand Duke of Lithuania, Stephan Báthory University Observatory in Vilnius, William Harvey (1578--1657), described function of heart and circulatory system, Werner Rolfinck (1599--1673), promoted anatomy and chemistry studies in Germany, created in Jena an anatomical theatre, a botanical garden, and a chemistry laboratory on the Paduan model.
In 1678, Elena Lucrezia Cornaro Piscopia (1646--1684) was awarded a doctorate in philosophy, the first woman ever to do so. She was accepted as mathematics lecturer. Piscopia, a crater of 26 km in diameter on the planet Venus was dedicated to her.
La Specula
Fig. 2a. La Specola, Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova (1767), (CC3, Ivanfurlanis)
In 1761 the Venetian Senate decreed the establishment of an astronomical observatory for the University of Padua; the architect was Domenico Cerato (1715--1792) from Vicenza.
La Specola is a 14th-century tower, formerly part of a medieval castle, Castel Vecchio, and converted from 1767 to 1677 into an astronomical observatory. The access to the Specola was from what is now Piazza Castello. The first rooms are: Androne (Entrance), Scalone (Staircase) e Sala Iscrizione (Registration room), then Sala Colonna (Column Hall with a pillar in the middle supporting the vault above), Sala Meridiana (Meridian Hall) e Sala Figure (Figure Hall).
In 1773, the Specola got a lightning rod, a very innovative idea (invented by Benjamin Franklin in 1750), suggested by the Genevan professor Horace-Bénédict de Saussure (1740--1799) -- the first installation of a lightning rod in the Republic of Venice.
Fig. 2b. La Specola, Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova (1767)
In 1777, the tower was completed and housed two observation sites:
- A lower observatory (Sala Meridiana), 16m above ground level, in order to carry out meridian observations; a precision pendulum clock was installed at the wall. A meridian line was created for determining the exact moment of local noon.
A large fresco is painted on the east wall which illustrates with great precision the geometric structure of the solar system known in Toaldo’s time. - An upper observatory, Sala Figure (Figure Hall), an octagonal room at a height of 35m with large windows, almost six metres high, which allow 360 degree observation of the sky from inside. But the instruments, all equipped with mounts with wheels, could be moved also to the surrounding terrace, facing towards the South.
In 1772/73, the octagonal room was frescoed by the Vicenza painter Giacomo Ciesa (1733--1822) with astronomical subjects created by the first director Giuseppe Toaldo (1719--1797), eight portraits (1773) of famous astronomers: Ptolemaios, Copernicus, Tycho Brahe, Galilei, Kepler, Newton, Geminiano Montanari (1633--1687), Paduan chair of astronomy and meteorology from 1678 to 1687, Giovanni Poleni (1683--1761), chair of astronomy in 1709, physics in 1715, mathematics in 1719, and in 1739, the first European chair of Experimental Physics with a Theatre of Experimental Philosophy with almost four hundred scientific instruments. In addition, a band of the twelve zodiac signs was painted all around the vault.
Fig. 3. Vaults and six metres high windows in the upper floor of La Specola, Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova (1767), (INAF)
An inscription at the entrance by Abbé Toaldo (1771) states:
1242 / This tower, which once led to infernal shadows /
now, under the auspices of the Venetians, opens the way to the stars / 1767 (MCCXLII / QUAE QUONDAM INFERNAS TURRIS DUCEBAT AD UMBRAS/NUNC VENETUM AUSPICIIS PANDIT AD ASTRA VIAM / MDCCLXVII)
La Specola was initially an astronomical and meteorological observatory, but since 1817 it has been exclusively concerned with astronomical observations.
An important task was the timekeeping, the average time of Rome was transmitted telegraphically, twice a week, to the Scientific Office of the Navy of Venice, which thus regulated the chronometers of ships departing from the Arsenale.
Giuseppe Lorenzoni (1843--1914) started astrophysics, and observed the total solar eclipse from Sicily in 1870, especially the solar corona with a direct vision spectroscope. He discovered a bright line at 4472 Å which came to be called the Lorenzoni f line.
In 1923, the observatory was separated from the university, but continued to work with the local Galileo-Galilei Department of Physics and Astronomy.
In 1942, the University of Padua decided to built a modern facility, represented by the Asiago Astrophysical Observatory on a plateau north of Padova. Some rooms of the Specula, which was no longer used to carry out astronomical observations, were then transformed to house the ancient library and archive.
In 1994, a new building, the so-called Castelvecchio Munizioniere House, was acquired, so that the whole Specula Tower could be used as museum.
History
Fig. 4. Instruments of La Specola, Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova, (INAF)
Instruments
- Celestial and Terrestrial Globes (diameter 38.2cm), made by John Newton of London (1785/1787)
- Celestial Globe (diameter 97cm), made by Carl Adami of Berlin (1854)
- Terrestrial Globe (diameter 63cm), made by Joseph Jütter of Vienna (1839)
- Lunar Globes
- Globe of Mars (diameter 11cm, height 18cm), made by E. Bertaux of Paris (~1880)
- Globe of Mars (diameter 10cm, height 22cm), made by J. Lebèque of Bruxelles (~1890)
- Armillary Sphere (diameter 10cm, height 28cm, height 50cm), made by Ferdinando Arlaria of Milan (~1810)
- Meteorological instruments:
Heliograph (sunshine recorder), Negretti & Zambra of London
Rain Gauges (1770) - Geodetic instruments (Commissione Italiana per la misura dei gradi in Europa)
- Angle Measuring Instrument (diameter 25cm), made by Guiseppe Stefani of Padova (1827)
- Seismological instruments:
Seismoscope, made by F.lli Brassart of Rome (1888)
- Large Mural Quadrant (Radius 244cm, with achromatic refractor, aperture 70cm, focal length 87cm), made by Jesse Ramsden of London (1776)
- Small Mural Quadrant
- Small Altazimuth Quadrant (Radius 15cm, with refractor, aperture 1.8cm, focal length 33cm), made by Antonio Fabris of Bovolenta/Padova
- Telescope with Quadrant, Anton Fabri ....
- Moveable Quadrant (Radius 120cm, with refractor, aperture 4cm, focal length 130cm), made by Bernardino Zendini of Venice (1st half 18th century)
- Moveable Quadrant (Radius 65cm, with achromatic refractor, aperture 6cm, focal length 98cm), made by George Adams of London (~1780)
- Moveable Sextant (Radius 35cm), made by Jesse Ramsden of London (1780)
- Meridian Line (1776, 1858)
- Pendulum Clock, made by the Venetian clockmaker Zuane Riva (1766), penulum Riva-Rodella (1874)
- Pendulum Clock, made by John Grant of London (1780)
- Pendulum Clock, made by the C. Frodsham & Co of London (19th century)
- Precision Pendulum Clock (No. 164), made by S. Riefler of Munich (1905)
- Repeating Circle (diameter 32cm), Georg Reichenbach of Munich (1815)
- Reflecting Circle (diameter 26cm), made by Guiseppe Stefani of Padova (1807)
- Reflecting Circle (diameter 25cm), made by Johann A.D. Örtling of Berlin (1845)
- Repeating Theodolite (diameter 13.5cm), made by Sante Mioni of Padova (1890)
- Dividing Machine (diameter 74cm), made by Guiseppe Stefani of Padova (1827)
- Meridian Circle, made by the K.K. Politechn. Institut in Wien -- Chr. Starke [Polytechnical Institute of Vienna] (1836)
in an octagonal pavilion.
The original objective of the telescope, made by Utzschneider & Fraunhofer of Munich, had an aperture of 10.9cm and a focal length of 163.5cm.
In 1911, it was replaced with the current one, made by Carl Zeiss of Jena, with a slightly larger aperture (11cm) and focal length (164cm) than the original.
In 1858, Santini purchased a micrometer, made by Stampfer of Vienna, which was capable of producing bright lines and points in the dark field in the focal plane, to be used as an alternative to the original wire micrometer. In 1914, the mechanical workshop of the Sante Miloni Observatory created a new and modern micrometer.
Also fundamental to the instrument was the ’meridian mire’ that Santini had placed in 1842, on the occasion of the IV Congress of Italian Scientists, in the current gardens of the Bastione S. Croce, in an elevated place visible from the Specola. This stone stele was the meridian target that was used to align the instrument with the celestial meridian.
Santini’s observations with the meridian circle in collaboration with Virgilio Trettenero, which they carried out for a period of about 30 years, resulted in the five Padua Catalogues,
also known as the Santini Catalogues, comprising a total of almost 10,000 stars, with stars up to tenth magnitude. - Transit Instrument (aperture 6.5cm, focal length 80cm), made by Traugott Leberecht Ertel of Munich (1870)
- Transit Instrument, made by Repsold of Hamburg
- Marine Chronometer, Ulysse Nardin, Locle, Swisse (1892)
- Marine Chronometer, ....
- Pocket Chronometer, Ulysse Nardin, Locle, Switzerland (1900)
- Pocket Chronometer, Minuti terzi, Stefano Andrea Renieri (19th century)
- Chronograph, ....
- Altazimuth Telescope (aperture 7cm, focal length 123cm), made by Henry R. Shuttleworth of London (~1780)
- Refracting Telescope (aperture 3.8cm, focal length 49cm), made by Guiseppe Stefani of Padova (1831)
with 4 terrestrial eyepieces, 4 astronomical eyepieces, one pancratic eyepiece (negative focal length) for increasing the field of view - Reflecting Telescope (aperture 9cm, focal length 46cm), made by James Short of London (~1766)
- Refracting Telescope / Cannocchiale (objective aperture 37.5’’’ Paris lines = 7.9cm, 4 Paris foot = 130cm), made by Fraunhofer of Munich (....)
- Achromatic Telescope (aperture 8.5cm, focal length 130cm), made by Utzschneider & Fraunhofer of Munich (1822) with wooden table
- Altazimuth Telescope (aperture 11.7cm, focal length 95cm), made by Georg Merz of Munich (1842) with a mounting by the Christian Starke of Vienna - with an observing chair
- Comet Seeker (aperture 7.7cm, focal length 65cm), made by Georg Merz of Munich (1842) with a mounting by the Christian Starke of Vienna
- Equatorial Starke-Merz Refractor (aperture 11.6cm, focal length 164cm, diameter of the circles 27.5cm), made by Georg Merz of Munich (1858)
with a mounting by the Polytechnical Institute of Vienna (in the lower observatory).
A cylindric tower with a rotating dome was constructed for the refractor in 1861 above the Salle delle Figure.
- Equatorial Telescope (aperture 18.7cm, focal length 320cm), named Dembowski, made by Georg Merz of Munich (1862) (in the lower observatory).
The refractor was bought by Baron Ercole Dembowski (1812--1881) for his private observatory in Gallarate, Milan, and used for observing binaries.
In 1882, the refractor including the rotating dome was purchased by the Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova, and became the main instrument in the Specula until 1942.
Fig. 5a. Giuseppe Toaldo (1719--1797) - first Director of La Specola, Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova, 1767 to 1797 (CC0)
Fig. 5b. Giovanni Santini (1786--1877) - Director of La Specola, Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova, 1817 to 1877 (CC0)
Directors
- 1767 to 1797: Giuseppe Toaldo (1719--1797)
- 1797 to 1815: Vincenzo Chiminello (1745--1815)
- 1815 to 1817: Francesco Bertirossi-Busata (1778--1825) [de facto]
- 1817 to 1877: Giovanni Sante Gaspero Santini (1786--1877)
- 1877 to 1913: Giuseppe Lorenzoni (1843--1914)
- 1913 to 1925: Antonio Maria Antoniazzi (1872--1925)
- 1926 to 1952: Giovanni Silva (1882--1957)
- 1952 to 1956: Antonino Gennaro (1902--1962) [de facto]
- 1956 to 1982: Leonida Rosino (1915--1997)
- 1991 to 1999: Gianfranco de Zotti
- 1999 to 2005: Massimo Calvani
- 2005 to 2010: Enrico Cappellaro (*1957)
- 2011 to 2017: Massimo Turatto
- seit 2018: Roberto Ragazzoni (*1966)
State of preservation
La Specola, Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova, is well preserved. La Specola Museum, founded in 1994, has frescoes depicting famous astronomers and an impressive collection of astronomical instruments. In 1998, the Sala Figure was restored and it was thus possible to recover almost all the eighteenth-century frescoes.
Fig. 6. La Specola, Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova (1767), (INAF)
Comparison with related/similar sites
Fig. 4. Instruments of La Specola, Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova, (INAF)
Instruments
- Celestial and Terrestrial Globes (diameter 38.2cm), made by John Newton of London (1785/1787)
- Celestial Globe (diameter 97cm), made by Carl Adami of Berlin (1854)
- Terrestrial Globe (diameter 63cm), made by Joseph Jütter of Vienna (1839)
- Lunar Globes
- Globe of Mars (diameter 11cm, height 18cm), made by E. Bertaux of Paris (~1880)
- Globe of Mars (diameter 10cm, height 22cm), made by J. Lebèque of Bruxelles (~1890)
- Armillary Sphere (diameter 10cm, height 28cm, height 50cm), made by Ferdinando Arlaria of Milan (~1810)
- Meteorological instruments:
Heliograph (sunshine recorder), Negretti & Zambra of London
Rain Gauges (1770) - Geodetic instruments (Commissione Italiana per la misura dei gradi in Europa)
- Angle Measuring Instrument (diameter 25cm), made by Guiseppe Stefani of Padova (1827)
- Seismological instruments:
Seismoscope, made by F.lli Brassart of Rome (1888) - Large Mural Quadrant (Radius 244cm, with achromatic refractor, aperture 70cm, focal length 87cm), made by Jesse Ramsden of London (1776)
- Small Mural Quadrant
- Small Altazimuth Quadrant (Radius 15cm, with refractor, aperture 1.8cm, focal length 33cm), made by Antonio Fabris of Bovolenta/Padova
- Telescope with Quadrant, Anton Fabri ....
- Moveable Quadrant (Radius 120cm, with refractor, aperture 4cm, focal length 130cm), made by Bernardino Zendini of Venice (1st half 18th century)
- Moveable Quadrant (Radius 65cm, with achromatic refractor, aperture 6cm, focal length 98cm), made by George Adams of London (~1780)
- Moveable Sextant (Radius 35cm), made by Jesse Ramsden of London (1780)
- Meridian Line (1776, 1858)
- Pendulum Clock, made by the Venetian clockmaker Zuane Riva (1766), penulum Riva-Rodella (1874)
- Pendulum Clock, made by John Grant of London (1780)
- Pendulum Clock, made by the C. Frodsham & Co of London (19th century)
- Precision Pendulum Clock (No. 164), made by S. Riefler of Munich (1905)
- Repeating Circle (diameter 32cm), Georg Reichenbach of Munich (1815)
- Reflecting Circle (diameter 26cm), made by Guiseppe Stefani of Padova (1807)
- Reflecting Circle (diameter 25cm), made by Johann A.D. Örtling of Berlin (1845)
- Repeating Theodolite (diameter 13.5cm), made by Sante Mioni of Padova (1890)
- Dividing Machine (diameter 74cm), made by Guiseppe Stefani of Padova (1827)
- Meridian Circle, made by the K.K. Politechn. Institut in Wien -- Chr. Starke [Polytechnical Institute of Vienna] (1836)
in an octagonal pavilion.
The original objective of the telescope, made by Utzschneider & Fraunhofer of Munich, had an aperture of 10.9cm and a focal length of 163.5cm.
In 1911, it was replaced with the current one, made by Carl Zeiss of Jena, with a slightly larger aperture (11cm) and focal length (164cm) than the original.
In 1858, Santini purchased a micrometer, made by Stampfer of Vienna, which was capable of producing bright lines and points in the dark field in the focal plane, to be used as an alternative to the original wire micrometer. In 1914, the mechanical workshop of the Sante Miloni Observatory created a new and modern micrometer.
Also fundamental to the instrument was the ’meridian mire’ that Santini had placed in 1842, on the occasion of the IV Congress of Italian Scientists, in the current gardens of the Bastione S. Croce, in an elevated place visible from the Specola. This stone stele was the meridian target that was used to align the instrument with the celestial meridian.
Santini’s observations with the meridian circle in collaboration with Virgilio Trettenero, which they carried out for a period of about 30 years, resulted in the five Padua Catalogues,
also known as the Santini Catalogues, comprising a total of almost 10,000 stars, with stars up to tenth magnitude. - Transit Instrument (aperture 6.5cm, focal length 80cm), made by Traugott Leberecht Ertel of Munich (1870)
- Transit Instrument, made by Repsold of Hamburg
- Marine Chronometer, Ulysse Nardin, Locle, Swisse (1892)
- Marine Chronometer, ....
- Pocket Chronometer, Ulysse Nardin, Locle, Switzerland (1900)
- Pocket Chronometer, Minuti terzi, Stefano Andrea Renieri (19th century)
- Chronograph, ....
- Altazimuth Telescope (aperture 7cm, focal length 123cm), made by Henry R. Shuttleworth of London (~1780)
- Refracting Telescope (aperture 3.8cm, focal length 49cm), made by Guiseppe Stefani of Padova (1831)
with 4 terrestrial eyepieces, 4 astronomical eyepieces, one pancratic eyepiece (negative focal length) for increasing the field of view - Reflecting Telescope (aperture 9cm, focal length 46cm), made by James Short of London (~1766)
- Refracting Telescope / Cannocchiale (objective aperture 37.5’’’ Paris lines = 7.9cm, 4 Paris foot = 130cm), made by Fraunhofer of Munich (....)
- Achromatic Telescope (aperture 8.5cm, focal length 130cm), made by Utzschneider & Fraunhofer of Munich (1822) with wooden table
- Altazimuth Telescope (aperture 11.7cm, focal length 95cm), made by Georg Merz of Munich (1842) with a mounting by the Christian Starke of Vienna - with an observing chair
- Comet Seeker (aperture 7.7cm, focal length 65cm), made by Georg Merz of Munich (1842) with a mounting by the Christian Starke of Vienna
- Equatorial Starke-Merz Refractor (aperture 11.6cm, focal length 164cm, diameter of the circles 27.5cm), made by Georg Merz of Munich (1858)
with a mounting by the Polytechnical Institute of Vienna (in the lower observatory).
A cylindric tower with a rotating dome was constructed for the refractor in 1861 above the Salle delle Figure. - Equatorial Telescope (aperture 18.7cm, focal length 320cm), named Dembowski, made by Georg Merz of Munich (1862) (in the lower observatory).
The refractor was bought by Baron Ercole Dembowski (1812--1881) for his private observatory in Gallarate, Milan, and used for observing binaries.
In 1882, the refractor including the rotating dome was purchased by the Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova, and became the main instrument in the Specula until 1942.
Fig. 5a. Giuseppe Toaldo (1719--1797) - first Director of La Specola, Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova, 1767 to 1797 (CC0)
Fig. 5b. Giovanni Santini (1786--1877) - Director of La Specola, Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova, 1817 to 1877 (CC0)
Directors
- 1767 to 1797: Giuseppe Toaldo (1719--1797)
- 1797 to 1815: Vincenzo Chiminello (1745--1815)
- 1815 to 1817: Francesco Bertirossi-Busata (1778--1825) [de facto]
- 1817 to 1877: Giovanni Sante Gaspero Santini (1786--1877)
- 1877 to 1913: Giuseppe Lorenzoni (1843--1914)
- 1913 to 1925: Antonio Maria Antoniazzi (1872--1925)
- 1926 to 1952: Giovanni Silva (1882--1957)
- 1952 to 1956: Antonino Gennaro (1902--1962) [de facto]
- 1956 to 1982: Leonida Rosino (1915--1997)
- 1991 to 1999: Gianfranco de Zotti
- 1999 to 2005: Massimo Calvani
- 2005 to 2010: Enrico Cappellaro (*1957)
- 2011 to 2017: Massimo Turatto
- seit 2018: Roberto Ragazzoni (*1966)
State of preservation
La Specola, Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova, is well preserved. La Specola Museum, founded in 1994, has frescoes depicting famous astronomers and an impressive collection of astronomical instruments. In 1998, the Sala Figure was restored and it was thus possible to recover almost all the eighteenth-century frescoes.
Fig. 6. La Specola, Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova (1767), (INAF)
Comparison with related/similar sites
La Specola, Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova, is well preserved. La Specola Museum, founded in 1994, has frescoes depicting famous astronomers and an impressive collection of astronomical instruments. In 1998, the Sala Figure was restored and it was thus possible to recover almost all the eighteenth-century frescoes.
Fig. 6. La Specola, Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova (1767), (INAF)