Schiaparelli, Giovanni Virginio

SCHIAPARELLI, GIOVANNI VIRGINIO. - Astronomer, b. at Savigliano (province of Cuneo) on 14 March 1835, d. at Milan on 4 July 1910.

At Savigliano he received his first instruction in astronomy from the theologian Paolo Dovo, which he perfected more and more at the University of Turin, in Berlin (1857-59) and at the Observatory of Pulkovo (1859-60). In 1860 he was appointed second astronomer at Brera and in 1862 director. He did not leave the Specola until 1900, devoting himself to his research and his studies until his death. A distinguished astronomer and of rare culture, his name is linked to his ingenious and singular studies on the planet Mars, on the connection between shooting stars and comets, on double stars, on the history of the planetary system among the ancients, etc., and he knew how to raise his mind from the wonders of the stars to the greatness of the one who had created them. Of a critical history of astronomy he left only indications and notes, published under the care of his son Attilio and by L. Gabba in: G. S., Scritti sulla storia dell'astronomia antica, III (Bologna 1927).