Giovanni Schiaparelli

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Giovanni Schiaparelli

Giovanni Virginio Schiaparelli (born March 14, 1835 in Savigliano near Cuneo , † July 4, 1910 in Milan ) was an Italian astronomer . From 1864 to 1900 he was director of the Brera observatory in Milan.

Schiaparelli (pronounced Skiaparelli ) is considered the keenest-eyed astronomer of his century and was best known for his observations of the planets Mercury, Venus and Mars. On the latter, in 1877, he discovered what appeared to be delicate gullies, which the media soon called Martian canals and which had been a research topic for 80 years. Schiaparelli also researched Eudoxian trajectories ( hippopedas ) and numerous comet orbits and was able to prove their connection with annual meteor showers . Later he dealt u. a. with the history of astronomy and especially with celestial aspects in the Old Testament .

life and work

Schiaparelli graduated from the University of Turin in 1854 in engineering sciences of architecture and hydraulics. For some time he conducted private studies in astronomy, mathematics and languages. In 1856 he got a job as a mathematics teacher at an elementary school in Turin. To become an astronomer, he studied from 1857 for two years at the Berlin observatory under the then director Johann Franz Encke . Another year he worked at the Pulkowo Observatory under the direction of Wilhelm Struve . In 1860 Schiaparelli returned to Italy to take up a position as "secondo astronomo" in Milan at the Osservatorio Astronomico di Brera under Francesco Carlini .

He became world famous through his observations of Mars and the alleged discovery of the so-called Martian canals ( Canali ) in 1877, when Mars came very close to Earth. These linear structures were close to the visibility limit of the 30 to 50 cm lens telescopes of the time and required special observation experience. Not until the next Mars opposition in 1879 was their sighting confirmed by other astronomers .

Schiaparelli considered them to be naturally formed, straight depressions of up to 2000 km in length and around 100 kilometers in width, through which water could possibly spread on the otherwise dry surface ( La vita sul pianeta Marte , 1893). But an incorrect translation into English ( channels instead of correct channels ) made many journalists think of engineering structures. This is how science fiction novels and a decades-long myth of Martians came about . In 1894, Percival Lowell built the Flagstaff Observatory in Arizona to study the Martian channels and the life assumed on Mars in more detail.

Map of the surface of Mars according to Schiaparelli

It was not until 1965 that the photos of the US probe Mariner 4 put an end to these speculations. Today, the Martian canals are partially considered to be an optical illusion ( line reinforcement through correlated stimulation of neighboring visual cells ); Antoniadi's flat representations from 1910–30 are hardly more detailed. Around half of the Martian channels mapped by Schiaparelli and other astronomers, however, are likely to correspond to actual canyons , linear terrain shadows, valley systems or chains of craters . In any case, the canals of Mars inspire the imagination of writers to this day.

Schiaparelli's astronomical research also covered Mercury , Venus , solar activity, and the binary stars . One crater each on the Moon , Mercury and Mars was named after him. He proved in an award-winning work that the meteor shower of the Perseids (August shooting stars) with the comet Swift-Tuttle is related of the 1,862th

On Mars, he also devoted himself to a better nomenclature and the changes in the reddish and greenish-gray areas and the white polar caps .

The fashion designer Elsa Schiaparelli was his niece.

Publications (selection)

  • The forerunners of Copernicus in ancient times. Historical research . In: New Prussian Provincial Papers . Fourth episode, volume 13, Königsberg i. Pr. 1876, pp. 1-46 , pp. 97-128, and pp. 193-221.

Honors

See also

literature

Web links

Commons : Giovanni Schiaparelli  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Gottfried Gerstbach : Mars Channel Observations 1877-90, Compared with Modern Orbiter Data . ( Memento of July 14, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF) 2003.
  2. ↑ Prof. Dr. Giovanni Virginio Schiaparelli , members of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences
  3. ^ List of members since 1666: Letter S. Académie des sciences, accessed on February 27, 2020 (French).
  4. ^ Scheda at the Italian Senate; with picture
  5. ^ Members of the previous academies. Giovanni Virginio Schiaparelli. Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities , accessed on June 10, 2015 .
  6. ^ Entry on Schiaparelli, Giovanni Virginio (1835–1910) in the Archives of the Royal Society , London
  7. ^ Fellows Directory. Biographical Index: Former RSE Fellows 1783–2002. (PDF file) Royal Society of Edinburgh, accessed April 6, 2020 .
  8. ^ Membership list of the academy
personal data
SURNAME Schiaparelli, Giovanni
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Schiaparelli, Giovanni Virginio (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Italian astronomer
DATE OF BIRTH March 14, 1835
PLACE OF BIRTH Savigliano near Cuneo
DATE OF DEATH 4th July 1910
Place of death Milan