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University of Bologna - Department of Astronomy

Guido Horn d'Arturo fonds

The new fonds which in the historic Archives of the Department of Astronomy of the University of Bologna testifies to the activity of Guido Horn d'Arturo (13.2.1879-1.4.1967) is made of three sections.

Private correspondence
Donated by Mrs. Maria Delia Horn, grandnephew of the astronomer, when the Library was named after Guido Horn d'Arturo in June 1999 ¹, it represents the most notable part of this archives collection. It's for the large majority composed of typescripts, testifying not only to the attitude and frequentations of a scientist, but also to the climate in which a thriving scientific and managing activity was conducted, in a period of great social and political storminess.
The donation consists of ten boxes made of wood and cardboard, each measuring cm 24.5x30.5. They contain the copies of the letters sent by Guido Horn d'Arturo to relatives and friends (but not completely excluding the professional component) between 1912 and 1939.
For as much as we know, it was Horn himself who provided for a sort of a binding of the letter copies, which are perforated along the left margin and bound together with twine. On the back of each box you can find the chronological details of the letters inside.

1912-1920	1929-1931
1921-1923	1932-1933
1924-1925	1934-1935
1925-1926	1936-1937
1927-1928	1938-1939

There are also some

Outside-the-box items (1911-1945)

Scientific drafts envelope
After the establishment of the Horn d'Arturo fonds, which was born further to the above mentioned donation, this became also the location of the envelope created by Marina Zuccoli in 1990 to collect some original writings by Horn d'Arturo which were found in the Department of Astronomy's building (former name: "busta A"). This is the envelope's content (original titles):

Ms. Spettrograf. stelle cadenti. Diacaustica di una lente conica obiettiva. Caustiche in generale.Sfera e paraboloide
Ms. Nuovo impianto dello specchio a tasselli eseguito dal Genio Civile
Ms. Tracce di stelle variabili e spettri di stelle. Numeri e simboli. Ombre volanti. Alta atmosfera.Spettri
Ms. Misure interferometriche di tracce stellari. Goccia nera e suture del cristallino. Ombre volanti
Copialettere 27-4-1865/16-7-1865. Poi brogliaccio di Guido Horn dal 1928
Ms. Misure del diametro solare. Correnti stellari. Cosmogonia. Cronologia. Copernico. Velocità spaziali minime. Biplanarità
Ms. Curvatura del cielo ed altre illusioni ottiche. Schiacciamento del globo solare. Numeri arabici e simboli celesti. Elogio di G.D.Cassini. Ecclisse del 14/1/1926. Astrologia
Mss. e dattiloscritti: appunti per le lezioni universitarie, 1926-1950 (this latter section was donated by the grandnephew Patrizia Horn in June 1999).

Drawers' items: keepsakes of Horn d'Arturo's scientific activity
This section includes items found in the drawers of the writing desk which belonged to Guido Horn d'Arturo. It is composed of three subsections:

Scientific correspondence: received letters and postcards, 1921-1938
Received letters: publications exchange
Photographs

¹ The volume Guido Horn d'Arturo e lo specchio a tasselli, edited by M. Zuccoli e F. Bonoli, Bologna, CLUEB, 1999, was published for that occasion. The following articles were also issued: M. Marra, Una biblioteca per Guido Horn d'Arturo, in "Coelum Astronomia", a.III n.18 (marzo 1999), p.48; M. Ferrarini, La biblioteca "Guido Horn d'Arturo" dell'Università di Bologna, in "Giornale di Astronomia", vol.25 n.2 (giugno 1999), pp.9-10; M. Marra, New Astronomy Library in Bologna to be named after Guido Horn d'Arturo: a "forefather" of modern telescopes, in "Journal of the British Astronomical Association" ( http://www.star.ucl.ac.uk/~hwm/ ), vol.110 n.2 (April 2000), p.88; Beekman, G., Oudste facettenspiegel in ere hersteld, in “Technisch Weekblad”, 24.5.2000.

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Web page edited by Monica Marra