Giambattista (or Giovanni Battista) Pianciani (27 October 1784, in
Spoleto
Spoleto (, also , , ; la, Spoletum) is an ancient city in the Italian province of Perugia in east-central Umbria on a foothill of the Apennines. It is S. of Trevi, N. of Terni, SE of Perugia; SE of Florence; and N of Rome.
History
Spolet ...
– 23 March 1862, in Rome) was an Italian
Jesuit scientist.
Biography
He entered the
Society of Jesus
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, abbreviation = SJ
, nickname = Jesuits
, formation =
, founders ...
on 2 June 1805; after having received the ordinary Jesuit training he was sent to various cities in the
Papal States
The Papal States ( ; it, Stato Pontificio, ), officially the State of the Church ( it, Stato della Chiesa, ; la, Status Ecclesiasticus;), were a series of territories in the Italian Peninsula under the direct sovereign rule of the pope fro ...
to teach mathematics and physics and finally was appointed professor in the Roman College, where he lectured and wrote on scientific subjects for twenty-four years. He was an active member of the
Accademia d'Arcadia, his academical pseudonym being "Polite Megaride", of the
Accademia de' Lincei, and of other scientific societies. His scientific labours were abruptly brought to an end by the
Revolution of 1848
The Revolutions of 1848, known in some countries as the Springtime of the Peoples or the Springtime of Nations, were a series of political upheavals throughout Europe starting in 1848. It remains the most widespread revolutionary wave in Europe ...
; he succeeded, however, in making his escape from Rome and having come to America he taught dogmatic theology during the scholastic year 1849-50 at the Jesuit theologate then connected with
Georgetown College
Georgetown College is a private Christian college in Georgetown, Kentucky. Chartered in 1829, Georgetown was the first Baptist college west of the Appalachian Mountains.
The college offers 38 undergraduate degrees and a Master of Arts in educat ...
,
Washington, D.C.
)
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When peace was restored in Rome he returned there and from 1851 till his death was engaged chiefly in administrative duties and in teaching philosophy both in the Roman College and in the Collegio Filosofico in the
University of Rome, of which latter college he was president during the last two years of his life.
Published works
*''Istituzioni fisico-chimiche'' (4 vols., Rome, 1833-4);
*''Elementi di fisico-chimica'' (2 vols., Naples, 1840–41);
*''In historiam creationis mosaicam commentarius'' (Naples, 1851), which he wrote whilst at Georgetown and of which there is a German translation by Schöttl (Ratisbon, 1853);
*''Saggi filosfici'' (Rome, 1855);
*''Nuovi saggi filosofici'' (Rome, 1856);
*''Cosmogonia naturale comparata col Genesi'' (Rome, 1862).
See also
*
List of Roman Catholic scientist-clerics
A ''list'' is any set of items in a row. List or lists may also refer to:
People
* List (surname)
Organizations
* List College, an undergraduate division of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America
* SC Germania List, German rugby unio ...
Sources
;Attribution
* Cites:
**
Carlos Sommervogel
Carlos Sommervogel (8 January 1834 – 4 March 1902) was a French Jesuit scholar. He was author of the monumental ''Bibliothèque de la Compagnie de Jésus'', which served as one of the major references for the editors of the Catholic Encyclope ...
, ''Bibliothèque de la Compagnie de Jésus'', VI (Brussels, 1895).
External links
*
1784 births
1862 deaths
19th-century Italian Jesuits
Georgetown University faculty
Jesuit scientists
{{Italy-scientist-stub