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Piazzi, Giuseppe |
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Piazzi, Giuseppe (j
zĕp`pā pyät`tsē), 1746–1826, Italian astronomer, a Theatine priest from 1769. He became (1781) professor of mathematics at the Univ. of Palermo, supervised construction of a government observatory (opened 1791) at Palermo, and was its first director. He also established a government observatory at Naples (1817). He was the first to discover (Jan. 1, 1801) an asteroid asteroid, planetoid, or minor planet, small body orbiting the sun. More than 10,000 asteroids have orbits sufficiently well known to have been cataloged and named; thousands more exist...... Click the link for more information. and named it Ceres Ceres , in astronomy, a dwarf planet, the first asteroid to be discovered. It was found on Jan. 1, 1801, by G. Piazzi. He took three distinct observations; on the basis of these the mathematician Gauss calculated Ceres' orbit with such accuracy that it was found one ..... Click the link for more information. . In 1803 he published a catalog of the fixed stars, and in 1814 he enlarged it to include 7,646 stars. He wrote Lezioni elementari di astronomia (1817). Piazzi, Giuseppe Born July 16, 1746, in Ponte di Valtel-lina; died July 22, 1826, in Naples. Italian astronomer. Piazzi was appointed a professor at the University of Palermo in 1780 and became the first director of the observatory at Palermo in 1791. In 1801 he discovered the first known asteroid —Ceres. He compiled two star catalogs (1803, 1814). REFERENCEClerke, A. Obshchedostupnaia istoriia astronomii v XIX stoletii. Odessa, 1913. (Translated from English.)Want to thank TFD for its existence? Tell a friend about us, add a link to this page, add the site to iGoogle, or visit the webmaster's page for free fun content. |
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