Tiberius Cavallo (also Tiberio) (30 March 1749, Naples, Italy21 December 1809,

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

) was an Italian

physicist A physicist is a scientist who specializes in the field of physics, which encompasses the interactions of matter and energy at all length and time scales in the physical universe. Physicists generally are interested in the root or ultimate caus ...

and natural philosopher. His interests included

electricity Electricity is the set of physical phenomena associated with the presence and motion of matter that has a property of electric charge. Electricity is related to magnetism, both being part of the phenomenon of electromagnetism, as described ...

, the development of scientific instruments, the nature of " airs", and ballooning. He became both a Member of the Royal Academy of Sciences in Naples, and a

Fellow of the Royal Society Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the judges of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural science, natural knowledge, incl ...

of London in 1779. Between 1780 and 1792, he presented the Royal Society's

Bakerian Lecture The Bakerian Medal is one of the premier medals of the Royal Society that recognizes exceptional and outstanding science. It comes with a medal award and a prize lecture. The medalist is required to give a lecture on any topic related to physical ...

thirteen times in succession.

Life

Tiberius Cavallo was born on 30 March 1749 at Naples, Italy where his father was a physician. In 1771 he moved to England. Cavallo made several ingenious improvements in scientific instruments. He is often cited as the inventor of Cavallo's multiplier. He also developed a "pocket electrometer" that he used to amplify small electric charges to make them observable and measurable with an electroscope. Parts of the instrument were protected from drafts by a glass enclosure. He also worked on refrigeration. Following the work of

William Cullen William Cullen FRS FRSE FRCPE FPSG (; 15 April 17105 February 1790) was a Scottish physician, chemist and agriculturalist, and professor at the Edinburgh Medical School. Cullen was a central figure in the Scottish Enlightenment: He was Dav ...

in 1750 and Joseph Black in 1764, Cavallo was the first to carry out systematic experiments on refrigeration using the evaporation of volatile liquids, in 1781. He was interested in the physical properties of "airs" or gases, and carried out experiments on "inflammable air" ( hydrogen gas). In his ''Treatise on the Nature and Properties of Air'' (1781) he made "a judicious examination of contemporary work", discussing both the

phlogiston theory The phlogiston theory is a superseded scientific theory that postulated the existence of a fire-like element called phlogiston () contained within combustible bodies and released during combustion. The name comes from the Ancient Greek (''burni ...

Joseph Priestley Joseph Priestley (; 24 March 1733 – 6 February 1804) was an English chemist, natural philosopher, separatist theologian, grammarian, multi-subject educator, and liberal political theorist. He published over 150 works, and conducted exp ...

and the contrasting views of Antoine Lavoisier. In June 1782, a paper of Cavallo's was read at the Royal Society, describing the first attempt to lift a hydrogen-filled balloon into the air. His ''History and Practice of Aerostation'' (1785) was considered "one of the earliest and best works on aerostation published in eighteenth century England". In it, Cavallo discusses both recent experiments in ballooning, and its underlying principles. Cavallo targeted a more general audience in this work, avoiding technical jargon and mathematical proofs, and was an effective science communicator to both his peers and the general public. His work influenced pioneer balloonists Jacques Charles, the Robert brothers, and

Jean-Pierre Blanchard Jean-Pierre rançoisBlanchard (4 July 1753 – 7 March 1809) was a French inventor, best known as a pioneer of gas balloon flight, who distinguished himself in the conquest of the air in a balloon, in particular the first crossing of the Englis ...

. File:History and Practice of Aerostation pz50gx12x 1 qn59q4962.tiff , ''History and Practice of Aerostation'', Tiberius Cavallo, 1785 File:History and Practice of Aerostation plate i hh63sw95g 0 ms35t986s.tiff , Plate I, Illustrating the chemical apparatus and balloons used for hydrogen generation File:History and Practice of Aerostation plate ii n296x033r 0 05741s87d.tiff , Plate II, Illustrating the chemical apparatus and balloons used for hydrogen generation Cavallo also published on musical temperament in his treatise ''Of the Temperament of Those Musical Instruments, in Which the Tones, Keys, or Frets, are Fixed, as in the Harpsichord, Organ, Guitar, &c''. The Burdett Coutts memorial, Old St Pancras

The Burdett Coutts memorial, Old St Pancras

He died in London on 21 December 1809. He was buried in Old St Pancras Churchyard reportedly in a vault near that of

Pasquale Paoli Filippo Antonio Pasquale de' Paoli (; french: link=no, Pascal Paoli; 6 April 1725 – 5 February 1807) was a Corsican patriot, statesman, and military leader who was at the forefront of resistance movements against the Genoese and later ...

. The grave is lost but he is listed on the

Burdett Coutts memorial The Burdett Coutts Memorial Sundial is a structure built in the churchyard of Old St Pancras, London, in 1877–79, at the behest of Baroness Burdett-Coutts. The former churchyard included the burial ground for St Giles-in-the-Fields, where ma ...

of 1879 to the many important persons buried therein.

Works

He published numerous works on different branches of

physics Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge which r ...

, including: * * ''Theory and Practice of Medical Electricity'' (1780) * * * ''History and Practice of Aerostation'' (1785) * * ''Medical Properties of Factitious Air'' (1798) * ''Elements of Natural and Experimental Philosophy'' (1803) For ''

Rees's Cyclopædia Rees's ''Cyclopædia'', in full ''The Cyclopædia; or, Universal Dictionary of Arts, Sciences, and Literature'' was an important 19th-century British encyclopaedia edited by Rev. Abraham Rees (1743–1825), a Presbyterian minister and scholar w ...

'' he contributed articles on Electricity, Machinery and Mechanics, but the topics are not known. File:Cavallo-1.jpg, 1795 copies of volumes 1-3 of "''A Complete Treatise on Electricity in Theory and Practice with Original Experiments''" File:Cavallo-2.jpg, Title page of a 1795 copy of "''A Complete Treatise on Electricity in Theory and Practice with Original Experiments,"'' volume 1

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Cavallo, Tiberius 1749 births 1809 deaths Scientists from Naples Italian emigrants to the Kingdom of Great Britain 18th-century Italian physicists 19th-century British physicists Italian scientific instrument makers Fellows of the Royal Society