283

Angelo Secchi, ed. (1818-1878)

Memorie dell' Osservatorio del Collegio Romano.

Rome: Tipografia delle Belle Arti, 1859 [and] Rome: Tipgrafia delle Scienze Matematiche e Fisiche, 1862-1872.
Four folio volumes the first in publisher's printed boards, leaves unopened; each volume illustrated; the series from 1862 through 1872 bound as a set in three volumes, in uniform contemporary half sheep and textured paper boards, spines decorated and lettered in gilt (some peeling to leather); sizes vary. (4)

Jesuit-trained Secchi showed an early aptitude for the sciences. Worldly despite his holy calling, he lived, studied and taught in Great Britain, at Stonyhurst College, and at Georgetown in the U.S. It seems he was drawn to astronomical observatories in each of these places and studied with Commander Matthew Fontaine Maury and Alfred Weld. He took over as head of the Roman College's observatory when he was only 32 and continued in this role to the end of his own days. His work, and that of other scientists at the observatory are captured in real time in these rare journals. Secchi was an early practitioner of astronomical spectroscopy, discovered three comets, mapped lunar craters, and demonstrated a great interest in our Sun, in whose study he contributed to our knowledge of the great star. He was one of the first astronomers to state unequivocally that the sun is in fact a star. He also recorded sunspot eruptions; proved that the solar coronal prominences visible during eclipses are part of the sun itself, and not a function of the eclipse, and invented the heliospectrograph, star spectrograph and telespectroscope.

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