Abetti, Antonio

Born Gorizia, (Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Italy), 19 June 1846

Died Arcetri near Florence, Italy, 20 February 1928

Italian astronomer Antonio Abetti revived the Arcetri Observatory south of Florence and made it one of the leading astrophysical institutions in Europe. He was a civil engineer and an architect but turned his interest to astronomy in 1868, almost immediately after he received a degree in mathematics and engineering from the University of Padua. He began his career at the local observatory, then headed by Giovanni Santini , as an assistant until 1893. After an examination Abetti was appointed director of the Arcetri Observatory and professor of astronomy at the University of Florence. In 1921, aged 75, he had to retire from the posts but continued his researches at the observatory.

The main field of Abetti’s work was positional astronomy. During the 25 years in Padua he made many observations of small planets, comets, and star occultations, which he published in the Memoirs and...