Abstract
THE centenary falls on November 12 of the death of the eminent Italian astronomer, Barnaba Oriani, who for many years was director of the Milan Observatory, and to whom Piazzi communicated his discovery of the minor planet Ceres. Piazzi first observed the planet on January 1, 1801, and a few weeks later he wrote to Oriani and Bode, the former of whom calculated its orbit. Oriani was born near Milan on July 17, 1752, and was educated by the Barnabites. He was made a priest at the age of twenty-three years and almost immediately entered the Observatory, which had not long since been founded at the College of Brera, Milan. He soon attained a recognised place among Italian astronomers and was among the first to publish tables of the planet Uranus, discovered by Herschel. In 1786 he was sent to London to obtain instruments from Ramsden. At this time he became acquainted with Herschel, with whom he afterwards corresponded. With his colleagues, Francesco Reggio (1743–1804) and Angelo Ceaaris (1750–1832), he carried out geodetical operations in northern Italy. He published various works on the motion of the planets. Although, during the greater part of Oriani's life, Milan formed a part of the Austrian dominions, it was seized by the French in 1796, and in 1802, the year in which Oriani was made director of the Observatory, it became the capital of the Cisalpine republic, with Napoleon as first president. On this occasion, it is said, that on Oriani's refusing to take the oath swearing hatred against monarchy, the wording of the oath was accordingly altered for him. Oriani's successors at Milan have included Carlini, Schiaparelli and Celoria.
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Barnaba Oriani, 1752–1832. Nature 130, 730 (1932). https://doi.org/10.1038/130730c0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/130730c0