THE ARCHIVES
Close to the library are the archives, a small collection of letters,
meteorological and astronomical observations, papers and drawings related to the
scientific and administrative life of the Bologna Observatory. The earliest
documents date back to 1696, when a group of astronomers, lead by Eustachio
Manfredi, planned the creation of an astronomical institute and the building of
the tower. A reorganization of the archives is in progress, in order to give
electronic access to documents, but saving the original structure of the
archives itself.
The archives are open from monday to saturday, h. 9-14, on
appointement with M. Zuccoli (Dipartimento di Astronomia - Universita' di
Bologna - Via Zamboni 33 - 40126 Bologna Italy - Tel. +51-259315/259309 -
Fax +51-259407 - e-mail zuccoli@astbo3.bo.astro.it.
Microfilm copies of documents can be made on request at L. 500/page + mail
expenses.
Mathematics professor at Bologna University, was the first director of the
Observatory. Enfant prodige, at 16 he founded at his own home a scientific
academy, which later gave origin to the Institute of Sciences. Main topic of
research in his early years at the Observatory was the annual aberration of
fixed stars, about which he published "De annuis inerrantium aberrationibus" in
1729. Manfredi was al
Manfredi, together with his brothers and sisters, made astronomical observations
which are available in the archives, and published the "Ephemerides Bononienses",
a series started in 1715 which was continued until 1845.
Series of astronomical ephemerides started in 1715 by Eustachio Manfredi, then
continued by Eustachio Zanotti (Bologna 1709-1782) and other astronomers of the
Bologna Observatory, until 1845. Manuscripts of the first issues can be found in
the archives, while the collection of Ephemerides is present in the antique
library.
The archives collect a group of letters written by and to the astronomers of
Bologna: e.g. see letters of Gian Domenico Cassini, Paris M. Salvago, Luigi
Ferdinando Marsigli, Johann Jakob Scheuchzer, Antoine F. Laval, Ottaviano
Fabrizio Mossotti and Guido Horn d'Arturo.
Eighteenth century letters have
been frequently searched, and many of them have been published, while
nineteenth and twentieth century correspondence, which embraces a lesser
number of letters, lies almost unexplored.
Graduated in astronomy in Wien and was director of Bologna Observatory since
1920. Besides his scientific activity (among other achievements, the
construction of the
specchio a tasselli, progenitor of the multiple mirror
telescopes) particularly relevant were his efforts to give the library a modern
organization, providing a card catalogue and a subject classification, and
giving the archives their present organization, both chronological and by
subjects. He also contributed to the diffusion of amateur astronomy with his
"Piccola enciclopedia astronomica" (together with Piero Tempesti) and founding
the journal COELUM, (1931-1986).
Dipartimento di Astronomia