SCHIAPARELLI, GIOVANNI VIRGINIO. - Astronomer, b. at Savigliano (province of Cuneo) on 14 March 1835, d. at Milano on 4 July 1910.
At Savigliano he received his first instruction in astronomy from the theologian Paolo Dovo, which he progressively perfected at the University of Torino, in Berlin (1857–59), and at the Observatory of Pullovo (1859–60). In 1860 he was appointed second astronomer at Brera, and in 1862 director. He did not leave the Observatory until 1900, devoting himself to his research and studies until his death. An eminent astronomer of rare learning, his name is linked with ingenious and singular studies of the planet Mars, of the connection between shooting stars and comets, of double stars, of 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 Him who had created them. Of a critical history of astronomy he left only outlines and notes, published by his son Attilio and by L. Gabba in: G. S., Scritti sulla storia dell'astronomia antica, III (Bologna 1927).