BARLETTI, CARLO

BARLETTI, CARLO. - Piarist physicist, b. at Rocca Grimalda (Alessandria) on 22 May 1735, d. at Pavia on 25 Feb. 1800. After teaching physical sciences in various houses in Liguria and especially at the college of Milan, in 1772 he was appointed professor of experimental physics at the University of Pavia. In 1778, when Volta succeeded to that chair, B. moved to that of general physics and meteorology, which he held until his death. In the field of electricity he has merits such as to rank him among the most renowned Italian scientists of the eighteenth century. He was an advocate of Simmerian electricity, and his learned experiments already foreshadowed Faraday’s theory concerning the efficacy of insulators in the phenomena of electromagnetic induction. He published a valuable treatise on physics, which nevertheless remained unfinished, as well as many other interesting pamphlets and highly learned dissertations. He was among the founders of the Società italiana delle scienze, known as the Quaranta, and corresponded with the leading Italian scientists of his time.