Giuseppe Toaldo (

Pianezze Pianezze is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Vicenza, Veneto, Italy. It is north of SP111. As of 2007 Pianezze had an estimated population of 1,988. Sources Cities and towns in Veneto {{Veneto-geo-stub ...

, 11 November 1719 -

Padua Padua ( ; it, Padova ; vec, Pàdova) is a city and ''comune'' in Veneto, northern Italy. Padua is on the river Bacchiglione, west of Venice. It is the capital of the province of Padua. It is also the economic and communications hub of the ...

, 11 July 1797) was an Italian Catholic priest and physicist.

Biography

Giuseppe Toaldo was born in 1719 in

Pianezza Pianezza is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Turin in the Italian region Piedmont, located about northwest of Turin Turin ( , Piedmontese language, Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cu ...

near

Vicenza Vicenza ( , ; ) is a city in northeastern Italy. It is in the Veneto region at the northern base of the ''Monte Berico'', where it straddles the Bacchiglione River. Vicenza is approximately west of Venice and east of Milan. Vicenza is a th ...

. In his fourteenth year he entered the seminary of Padua, in which he subsequently taught mathematics and Italian literature. While connected with the seminary he edited the works of

Galileo Galileo di Vincenzo Bonaiuti de' Galilei (15 February 1564 – 8 January 1642) was an Italian astronomer, physicist and engineer, sometimes described as a polymath. Commonly referred to as Galileo, his name was pronounced (, ). He was ...

(1744), for which he wrote an appreciative preface and critical notes. In this edition, for the first time since

Galileo Galilei Galileo di Vincenzo Bonaiuti de' Galilei (15 February 1564 – 8 January 1642) was an Italian astronomer, physicist and engineer, sometimes described as a polymath. Commonly referred to as Galileo, his name was pronounced (, ). He was ...

's condemnation, it was published with ecclesiastical approval the

Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems The ''Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems'' (''Dialogo sopra i due massimi sistemi del mondo'') is a 1632 Italian-language book by Galileo Galilei comparing the Copernican system with the traditional Ptolemaic system. It was transl ...

. In 1754 he was appointed pastor of

Montegalda Montegalda is a town in the province of Vicenza, Veneto, Italy. It is east of SP20. It borders with the other commune of Montegaldella, separated by the Bacchiglione __NOTOC__ The Bacchiglione ( la, Medoacus Minor, "Little Medoacus") is a river ...

; and, eight years later, was called to the chair of astronomy in the

University of Padua The University of Padua ( it, Università degli Studi di Padova, UNIPD) is an Italian university located in the city of Padua, region of Veneto, northern Italy. The University of Padua was founded in 1222 by a group of students and teachers from B ...

. Toaldo, like his contemporaries, Divisch and

Giovanni Battista Beccaria Giovanni Battista Beccaria (; 3 October 1716 – 27 May 1781), Italian physicist, was born at Mondovì, and entered the religious Order of the Pious Schools or Piarists, in 1732, where he studied, and afterward taught, grammar and rhetoric. At t ...

(both priests), gave special attention to the study of

atmospheric electricity Atmospheric electricity is the study of electrical charges in the Earth's atmosphere (or that of another planet). The movement of charge between the Earth's surface, the atmosphere, and the ionosphere is known as the global atmospheric electri ...

and to the means of protecting buildings against

lightning Lightning is a naturally occurring electrostatic discharge during which two electric charge, electrically charged regions, both in the atmosphere or with one on the land, ground, temporarily neutralize themselves, causing the instantaneous ...

. He advocated the erection of

lightning rod A lightning rod or lightning conductor (British English) is a metal rod mounted on a structure and intended to protect the structure from a lightning strike. If lightning hits the structure, it will preferentially strike the rod and be conducte ...

s, adopting the views of

Benjamin Franklin Benjamin Franklin ( April 17, 1790) was an American polymath who was active as a writer, scientist, inventor, statesman, diplomat, printer, publisher, and political philosopher. Encyclopædia Britannica, Wood, 2021 Among the leading inte ...

on their preventive and protective action, rather than those of the French school led by

Abbé Nollet Jean-Antoine Nollet (; 19 November 170025 April 1770) was a French clergyman and physicist who did a number of experiments with electricity and discovered osmosis. As a deacon in the Catholic Church, he was also known as Abbé Nollet. Biography ...

. His treatise "Della maniera di difendere gli edificii dal fulmine" (1772) and his pamphlet "Dei conduttori metallici a preservazione degli edifici dal fulmine" (1774) contributed largely to remove the popular prejudices of the time against the use of the "Franklinian rod"; and through his exertions lightning-conductors were placed on

Siena Cathedral Siena Cathedral ( it, Duomo di Siena) is a medieval church in Siena, Italy, dedicated from its earliest days as a Roman Catholic Marian church, and now dedicated to the Assumption of Mary. It was the episcopal seat of the Diocese of Siena, and ...

, on the tower of St. Mark's, Venice, on powder magazines, and ships of the Venetian navy. Toaldo was a member of many of the learned bodies of Europe, notably of the

Royal Society The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...

, London. The

asteroid An asteroid is a minor planet of the inner Solar System. Sizes and shapes of asteroids vary significantly, ranging from 1-meter rocks to a dwarf planet almost 1000 km in diameter; they are rocky, metallic or icy bodies with no atmosphere. ...

23685 Toaldo is named for him.

References

Works

* * * * *

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Toaldo, Giuseppe 1719 births 1797 deaths People from the Province of Vicenza Italian meteorologists 18th-century Italian physicists Catholic clergy scientists Fellows of the Royal Society Academic staff of the University of Padua

Biography

See also

References

Works

External links