Giuseppe Campani

Giuseppe Campani
Born	1635
Died	28 July 1715
Nationality	Roman
Occupation	Instrument maker
Known for	Early telescopes

Giuseppe Campani (1635–July 28, 1715) was an Italian optician and astronomer who lived in Rome during the latter half of the 17th century.

Life

Ragguaglio di due nuove osservazioni una celeste in ordine alla stella di Saturno; e terrestre l'altra in ordine a gl'istrumenti medesimi, co' quali s'e fatta l'una e l'altra osservazione, 1664

Giuseppe Campani was born in 1635. He was an Umbrian from Castel San Felice near Spoleto. His lenses and telescopes, made in Rome, were sent as far as Florence and Paris. Campani was known as the best maker of optical instruments of his age. His brother, Matteo Campani-Alimenis, and he were experts in grinding and polishing lenses, especially for very long focal length aerial telescope objectives. His brother is also noted as a mechanician for his work on clocks. He was a priest in charge of a parish in Rome.

Louis XIV of France ordered several long-focus lenses (86, 100, 136 feet respectively) for the astronomer Giovanni Domenico Cassini. With these Cassini found several moons of the planet Saturn, among other discoveries. Constantijn Huygens, Jr., brother of Christiaan Huygens, acquired one of Campani's telescopes. While in London in 1689 he ordered a new tube for the instrument from the instrument maker John Marshall.

Astronomer

Campani made many observations himself. Cassini called his attention to the spots on Jupiter, and he disputed with Eustachio Divini, an Italian optician, the priority of their discovery. His astronomical observations and his descriptions of his telescopes are detailed in the following papers: Ragguaglio di due nuovi osservazioni, una celeste in ordine alla stella di Saturno, e terrestre l'altra in ordine agl' instrumenti (Rome, 1664, and again in 1665); Lettere di G. C. al sig. Giovanni Domenico Cassini intorno alle ombre delle stelle Medicee nel volto di Giove, ed altri nuovi fenomeni celesti scoperti co' suoi occhiali (Rome, 1666).

Instruments

Campani's entire workshop was donated to the Gabinetto di Fisica of the Academy of Sciences of Bologna Institute in 1747. His telescopes were 20 to 50 feet (6.1 to 15.2 m) in length. A 10 feet (3.0 m) telescope by Campani was tested in 1871 and was found to provide good definition and a flat field, with a magnification of about 20 times. A tripod compound monocular microscope made by Campani is held in the Billings microscope collection at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C.

Works

• Ragguaglio di due nuove osservazioni una celeste in ordine alla stella di Saturno; e terrestre l'altra in ordine a gl'istrumenti medesimi, co' quali s'e fatta l'una e l'altra osservazione (in Italian). Roma: Fabio Di Falco. 1664.

References

Sources

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Giuseppe Campani". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.

• Davidson, Michael W. (1 August 2003). "Giuseppe Campani Ivory Monocular Microscope". Florida State University. Retrieved 2013-01-16.
• "Early Italian Scientific Academies - Attacks on the Holy See". Dublin Review. W. Spooner. 1837. Retrieved 2013-01-16.
• Field, J. V.; James, Frank A. J. L. (1997-10-02). Renaissance and Revolution: Humanists, Scholars, Craftsmen and Natural Philosophers in Early Modern Europe. Cambridge University Press. p. 231. ISBN 978-0-521-62754-2. Retrieved 2013-01-15.
• Hockey, Thomas (2009). The Biographical Encyclopedia of Astronomers. Springer Publishing. ISBN 978-0-387-31022-0. Retrieved August 22, 2012.
• Trier, Friedrich H.; Gaulke, Karsten (2007). "The aerial telescope of Giuseppe Campani in the Astronomical-Physical Cabinet of the Museumslandschaft Hessen Kassel (German Title: Das Luftfernrohr von Giuseppe Campani im Astronomisch-Physikalischen Kabinett der Museumslandschaft Hessen Kassel)". Acta Historica Astronomiae. 33: 185. Bibcode:2007AcHA...33..185T.
• Williams (1871). "On an early telescope made by Giuseppe Campani of Rome". Astronomical Register: A Medium of Communication for Amateur Observers and All Others Interested in the Science of Astronomy. J. D. Potter. Retrieved 2013-01-16.
• Zuidervaart, Huib J. (2011-11-11). "The 'Invisible Technician' Made Visible". From Earth-Bound to Satellite: Telescopes, Skills and Networks. BRILL. ISBN 978-90-04-21150-6. Retrieved 2013-01-16.

Further reading

• Bedini, Silvio: Giuseppe Campani, 'Inventor Romae,' an Uncommon Genius. ISBN 9789004460102 Brill, Leiden 2021
• Reinhard Oberschelp: Giuseppe Campani und der Ring des Planeten Saturn. (in German) ISBN 9783827188359 (Lesesaal, 35) 32 pp. C. W. Niemeyer, Hameln 2012
• Van Helden, Albert (1999). "Giuseppe Campani (1635-1715)". Catalogue of Early Telescopes. Giunti Editore. p. 48. ISBN 978-88-09-21680-8. Retrieved 2013-01-16.