Michele Rajna

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Michele Rajna (born September 28, 1854 in Sondrio , † September 29, 1920 in Teglio ) was an Italian astronomer .

Life

Michele Rajna was born into an old Veltlin family as the son of Eugenio Paolo Rajna and Costanza Simonetta . His older brother was the philologist Pio Rajna .

He studied mathematics at the Collegio Ghislieri in Pavia and graduated in February 1878 with the thesis Sulla teoria dell'involuzione in coordinate omogenee proiettive ("On the theory of involution in homogeneous projective coordinates "). Immediately after graduating, Giovanni Schiaparelli , director of the Brera Astronomical Observatory , called him to Milan and got him to study astronomy. In 1879 he was appointed paid assistant, in 1882 he was appointed third astronomer. In 1890 he received the free lectureship in astronomy and geodesy at the Milan Polytechnic .

In 1896 he married the teacher and children's book author Annetta Morelli, with whom he had four daughters.

In 1897, Rajna won the competition for the chair of astronomy at the University of Palermo , but decided not to do so and stayed in Milan. In 1903 he was appointed professor of astronomy and director of the observatory at the University of Bologna . He held these offices until his death in 1920 after a long illness.

Rajna was a member of the Accademia dei Lincei , the Academy of Sciences of Bologna, the Astronomical Society and the Société astronomique de France .

Services

During his time in Milan, Michele Rajna worked as an employee of Giovanni Schiaparelli and Giovanni Celoria, in particular with geodetic astronomy and the correlation between terrestrial magnetism and solar activity . Due to his achievements in determining the latitude and longitude of several Italian cities as well as absolute azimuths , he was appointed to the Italian Geodetic Commission in 1883, in which he was very active. He also devoted himself to the study of asteroids as well as lunar and solar eclipses and was involved in the observation of the Venus transit in 1882.

In Bologna he continued his studies of geodetic astronomy, geomagnetism and astronomical and meteorological observations. He also tried to improve the equipment of the observatory and relocate it from the city center to a more suitable location outside the city. However, the construction of a new observatory failed because of the high costs and was not realized until 1936 under his successor Guido Horn d'Arturo in Loiano .

Rajna also campaigned for the popularization of science and published in various newspapers and magazines. He translated works from other languages, including those by Wilhelm von Bezold , into Italian.

literature

personal data
SURNAME Rajna, Michele
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Italian astronomer
DATE OF BIRTH September 28, 1854
PLACE OF BIRTH Sondrio
DATE OF DEATH September 29, 1920
Place of death Teglio