BERTELLI, LEOPOLDO

BERTELLI, LEOPOLDO. - Barnabite, in religion Fr Timoteo, b. at Bologna on 26 Oct. 1826 and d. at the «Alla Querce» college in Firenze on 6 Feb. 1905. Physicist and seismologist, first investigator of microseisms, historian of science. Having completed his studies at the Barnabites’ public schools in Bologna and been ordained priest at Napoli (1850), he taught mathematics and physics for more than half a century in the colleges of his Order at Napoli, Macerata, Bologna, Parma, and, from 1868, at Firenze, where he remained until his death. His versatility as a scientist led him to concern himself with the most varied phenomena: electromagnetism, meteorology, and astronomy; geological and palaeontological research; thalassic and terrestrial-physics observations; and historical-scientific studies of the sounding line, the mariner’s compass, the barometer, and the battery. Above all, however, he stands in the forefront of the history of seismology, having been one of its first students and having contributed considerably to its development through careful investigations. In recording phenomena not yet thoroughly investigated, he always sought to confirm his personal inferences or hypotheses by rigorous and assiduous experiments; for these he constructed various instruments, including one for recording microseisms, which he called a «chronometer». He produced several publications on the use and history of the compass, which clarify the origin of the legend of Flavio Gioia. He was a member of many academies and, from 1904, president of the Pontifical Academy of the Nuovi Lincei. He also directed the Vatican Observatory (1895–98).