BACCELLI, LIBERATO

LIBERATO BACCELLI. — Scolopian physicist, born in Lucca on 18 Nov. 1772, died in Modena on 21 Oct. 1835. He taught physics at Correggio and at the University of Bologna, of which he was also regent during the Napoleonic period. After the Restoration of 1815, he returned to Correggio and then to the University of Modena as professor of experimental physics. He was one of the most illustrious physicists of his time. In 1821, a few months after Oersted’s announcement, he published his researches on electromagnetic phenomena, emulating Faraday, Ampère and Arago. Notable also were his studies and discoveries in chemistry, hydraulics and optics. To him must be credited the liquefaction of ammoniacal gas, which he achieved in 1811, twelve years before Faraday’s experiments.