Abetti, Giorgio

Born in Padua , in the family of astronomer Antonio Abetti .

He studied at the University of Padua under the guidance of his father. In 1904 he graduated from the university, specializing in physics.

Between 1910 and 1919 he worked at the Yerkes and Heidelberg Observatories , as well as at Mount Wilson Observatory and the Roman Observatory .

He began his career at the observatory of the Roman College . In 1921, he replaced his father as director of the Arcetri Observatory and became a professor at the University of Florence . He held these positions until 1952.

In 1926 he was elected a corresponding member of the National Academy dei Linchei , of which he became a full member in 1938.

He was one of the founders of the International Astronomical Union , and in 1938 was its vice president.

In 1948-49 he worked as a visiting professor at Cairo University .

In 1952-1970 - President of the National Optical Institute (Florence).

He was president of the International Committee for the Study of Solar-Terrestrial Communications .

He was the founder (1920), and later the president of the Italian Astronomical Society (1953-1964).

Member of the Edinburgh Royal Society . He was awarded the Silver Medal of the Italian Royal Geographical Society (1915), the prize of the National Academy dei Linchea (1925), and the prize to them. P.J.S. Jansen of the French Astronomical Society (1937), Gold Medals of the Italian Ministry of Education (1957), Italian Astronomical Society (1964), Florence (1972).

He died in 1982 in Florence .

At the beginning of his scientific career, he was engaged in positional astronomy : determining parallaxes and proper motions of stars, observing comets and minor planets, micrometric measurements of binary stars .

In 1912, received a more accurate value for the angular diameter of Neptune (2.3 "), which led to a revision of the density estimate of this planet.

The main area of ​​work at the Archetri Observatory is astrophysics and solar physics. Giorgio Abetti made this observatory a world famous center for the study of the sun. Abetti studied the motion of gas in sunspots , while discovering the variability of the velocity of the gas flow from the inner regions of the sunspot to the outer ones ( the Evershed effect , sometimes called the “Evershed-Abetti effect”).

He headed the expeditions to observe solar eclipses in Kazakhstan (1936) and Sudan (1952).

In total, Abetti was the author of more than 250 scientific papers. Known for his work on the history of astronomy, and non-fiction books, of which the most notable are “The Sun” (1936) and “Stars and Planets” (1956).

In honor of Giorgio Abetti and his father Antonio Abetti , the Abetti Crater on the Moon and the asteroid 2646 Abetti are named .

• Abetti, Giorgio (1954). The History of Astronomy. London: Sidwick and Jackson.
• Abetti, Giorgio (1956). Le stelle ei Pianeti. Turin: Einaudi.
• Abetti, Giorgio (1957). The sun New York: Macmillan.
• Abetti, Giorgio and Margherita Hack (1965). Nebulae and Galaxies. New York: Thomas and Crowell.

Used

• Hack M. Abetti, Giorgio // The Biographical Encyclopedia of Astronomers / Thomas Hockey (Ed. In chief). - New York: Springer, 2007 .-- P. 6-7. - 1341 p. - ISBN 978-0-387-31022-0 .
• Kolchinsky I.G., Korsun A.A., Rodriguez M.G. Astronomers: A Biographical Reference. - 2nd ed., Revised. and additional .. - Kiev: Naukova Dumka, 1986. - 512 p.

Recommended

• Hack, Margherita (1984). “Giorgio Abetti (1882-1982).” Quarterly Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society 25: 98-100.
• Tagliaferri, G. (1982). “Giorgio Abetti.” Giornale di astronomia delle Società astronomica italiana 298.