Barletti, Carlo

BARLETTI, CARLO. - Piarist physicist, b. at Rocca Grimalda (Alessandria) on 22 May 1735, d. at Pavia on 25 February 1800. After teaching physical sciences in various houses of Liguria and especially in 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 such merits as to be placed among the most renowned Italian scientists of the 18th century. He was an advocate of Symmerian electricity, and his learned experiments already foreshadowed Faraday's theory concerning the efficacy of insulators in the phenomena of electro-magnetic induction. He printed a valuable treatise on physics, which however remained unfinished, and many other interesting pamphlets and most learned dissertations. He was among the founders of the Italian Society of Sciences, known as the Society of the Forty, and was in correspondence with the leading Italian scientists of his time.

Leodegario Picanyol