ORIANI, BARNABA. - Astronomer and priest, b. July 17, 1752 at Garegnano (Milan), d. Nov. 12, 1832 at Milan. The son of very poor parents, his intelligence was noticed by the Fathers of that Charterhouse, who set him on his studies, with the Barnabites of Milan.
Having taken the priestly habit, he entered the Brera Observatory and in 1777 succeeded Lagrange as astronomer. After the discovery of the planet Uranus by Herschel in 1781, O. accumulated a whole series of observations on it that earned him great fame throughout Europe, so much so that in 1796 Bonaparte, having entered Milan, addressed a public letter to him, urging him to inform him of the needs of Milanese scientists, ready to assure a comfortable position in France to all those who wished to go there. O. replied to him with dignity that men of learning were honored by the previous government as well, and complained of the fact that, on the contrary, with the arrival of the French, the payment of their salaries had ceased. He also protested afterward against the provision of the Cisalpine Constitution that decreed the oath for public officials. A deputy for the Brera Lyceum at the Lyons assembly in 1801, he was appointed the following year director of the Milan Observatory. A senator in 1809, Napoleon also offered him the portfolio of Public Education, which O. refused. On Laplace's proposal the Emperor charged him in the same year with measuring the latitudes of Rome and Rimini, a fundamental operation for completing the general map of the Kingdom of Italy, begun by his order. In the field of astronomy and geodesy O. was among the greatest minds of his time.
Bibliography5 worksA. Gabba, Elogio di B. O. detto all'Ateneo di Brescia, Milano 1834; L. Gabba, Un episodio delle relazioni tra B. O. e Napoleone Bonaparte, i
BIBL.: A. Gabba, Elogio di B. O. detto all'Ateneo di Brescia, Milano 1834; L. Gabba, Un episodio delle relazioni tra B. O. e Napoleone Bonaparte, in Commentari dell'Ateneo di Brescia per l'anno 1928, Brescia 1929, pp. 238-46; E. Bianchi, B. O., in Rendic. del R. ist. tomb. di scienze e lett., 2ª serie, 65 (1932), pp. 1071-92; F. Meda, B. O. nel primo centenario della sua morte, in Vita e pensiero, 23 (1932), pp. 651-60; Ugo da Como, I comizi nazionali in Lione per la costituzione della Repubblica italiana, III, parte 2ª, Notizie biogr. dei deputati, Bologna 1940, pp. 91-92, with bibl.
Furlani, Silvio. “Oriani, barnaba.” In Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. IX, col. 300. Città del Vaticano: Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico, 1952. https://azioneromana.com/article/oriani-barnaba.
MLA
Furlani, Silvio. “Oriani, barnaba.” Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. IX, Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico, 1952, col. 300. Azione Romana, https://azioneromana.com/article/oriani-barnaba.
BibTeX
@incollection{ec9_oriani_barnaba,
author = {Furlani, Silvio},
title = {Oriani, barnaba},
booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica},
volume = {IX},
pages = {300},
note = {Cited by column},
publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico},
address = {Città del Vaticano},
year = {1952},
url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/oriani-barnaba}
}
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