Giuseppe Campani (1635–July 28, 1715) was an Italian optician and
astronomer
An astronomer is a scientist in the field of astronomy who focuses their studies on a specific question or field outside the scope of Earth. They observe astronomical objects such as stars, planets, natural satellite, moons, comets and galaxy, g ...
who lived in
Rome
, established_title = Founded
, established_date = 753 BC
, founder = King Romulus (legendary)
, image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg
, map_caption ...
during the latter half of the 17th century.
Life
Giuseppe Campani was born in 1635.
He was an
Umbria
it, Umbro (man) it, Umbra (woman)
, population_note =
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, population_blank1 =
, demographics_type1 =
, demographics1_footnotes =
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, demographics1_info1 =
, ...
n from Castel San Felice near
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 ...
.
His lenses and telescopes, made in Rome, were sent as far as
Florence
Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico an ...
and
Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
.
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
A lens is a transmissive optical device which focuses or disperses a light beam by means of refraction. A simple lens consists of a single piece of transparent material, while a compound lens consists of several simple lenses (''elements''), ...
, especially for very long
focal length
The focal length of an optical system is a measure of how strongly the system converges or diverges light; it is the inverse of the system's optical power. A positive focal length indicates that a system converges light, while a negative foca ...
aerial telescope
An aerial telescope is a type of very long focal length refracting telescope, built in the second half of the 17th century, that did not use a tube. Instead, the objective was mounted on a pole, tree, tower, building or other structure on a swive ...
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
, house = Bourbon
, father = Louis XIII
, mother = Anne of Austria
, birth_date =
, birth_place = Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France
, death_date =
, death_place = Palace of Versa ...
ordered several long-focus lenses (86, 100, 136 feet respectively) for the astronomer
Giovanni Domenico Cassini
Giovanni Domenico Cassini, also known as Jean-Dominique Cassini (8 June 1625 – 14 September 1712) was an Italian (naturalised French) mathematician, astronomer and engineer. Cassini was born in Perinaldo, near Imperia, at that time in the C ...
.
With these Cassini found several moons of the planet
Saturn
Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun and the second-largest in the Solar System, after Jupiter. It is a gas giant with an average radius of about nine and a half times that of Earth. It has only one-eighth the average density of Earth; h ...
, among other discoveries.
Constantijn Huygens, Jr.
Constantijn Huygens Jr., Lord of Zuilichem (10 March 1628 – October 1697), was a Dutch statesman and poet, mostly known for his work on scientific instruments (sometimes together with his younger brother Christiaan Huygens). But, he was also a ...
, brother of
Christiaan Huygens
Christiaan Huygens, Lord of Zeelhem, ( , , ; also spelled Huyghens; la, Hugenius; 14 April 1629 – 8 July 1695) was a Dutch mathematician, physicist, engineer, astronomer, and inventor, who is regarded as one of the greatest scientists of ...
, 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
Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the List of Solar System objects by size, largest in the Solar System. It is a gas giant with a mass more than two and a half times that of all the other planets in the Solar System combined, but ...
, and he disputed with
Eustachio Divini
Eustachio Divini (4 October 1610 – 22 February 1685) was an Italian manufacturer and experimenter of optical instruments for scientific use in Rome.
The origins
Eustachio was born on 4 October 1610 in San Severino Marche, from the illustrious ...
, 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 in length.
A 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
The Walter Reed Army Medical Center (WRAMC)known as Walter Reed General Hospital (WRGH) until 1951was the U.S. Army's flagship medical center from 1909 to 2011. Located on in the District of Columbia, it served more than 150,000 active and ret ...
in
Washington, D.C.
)
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, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
Works
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References
Citations
Sources
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Further reading
*Reinhard Oberschelp: ''Giuseppe Campani und der Ring des Planeten Saturn.'' (in German) (Lesesaal, 35) 32 pp. C. W. Niemeyer, Hameln 2012
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Campani, Giuseppe
17th-century Italian astronomers
1635 births
1715 deaths
Italian scientific instrument makers