Pietro Angelo SecchiBorn 18 Jun 1818; died 26 Feb 1878 at age 59.Pietro Angelo Secchi was an Italian priest and astronomer, a Jesuit, who made the first survey of the spectra of over 4000 stars and suggested that stars be classified according to their spectral type. He studied the planets, especially Jupiter, which he discovered was composed of gasses. Secchi studied the dark lines which join the two hemispheres of Mars; he called them canals as if they where the works of living beings. (These studies were later continued by Schiaparelli.) Beyond astronomy, his interests ranged from archaeology to geodesy, from geophysics to meteorology. He also invented a meteorograph, an automated device for recording barometric pressure, temperature, wind direction and velocity, and rainfall.[DSB gives birth date 18 Jun 1818. EB gives 29 Jun 1818.] |
