Giuseppe Piazzi was an Italian Theatine monk, mathematician, and astronomer. He was born in Ponte in Valtellina. He taught philosophy for a time at Genoa and mathematics at the new University of Malta while it lasted. In 1780 he was called to the chair of higher mathematics at the academy of Palermo. There he soon obtained a grant from Prince Caramanico, Viceroy of Sicily, for an observatory. He established his observatory at Palermo, and it is now called the Osservatorio Astronomico di Palermo "Giuseppe S. Vaiana".
Giuseppe began observations in May of 1791, and the first reports were published as early as 1792. Soon he was able to correct errors in the estimation of the obliquity of the ecliptic, of the aberration of light, of the length of the tropical year, and of the parallax of the fixed stars. He also thought it was necessary to revise the exsisting catalogue of stars to determine their exact postitions. So in 1803 he published a list of 6784 stars and in 1814 he published a second catalogue containing 7646 stars. Both lists were awarded prizes by the Institute of France.
While looking for a small star mentioned in one of the earlier lists he made his great discovery of the first known planetoid. At first he thought it was a fixed star, but once he noticed that it moved, he became convinced it was a planet, or as he called it, "a new star". But since he was unsure of his discovery he announced to the scientific world he had discovered a comet. These few but exact measurements enabled astronomer Carl Friedrich Gauss to calculate the orbit and to find that this was a new planet, between Mars and Jupiter. Piazzi's discovery confirmed the so-called "Titius-Bode's law", which predicted the existence of a fifth planet between the orbit of Mars and Jupiter.
Piazzi proposed the name of Ceres Ferdinandea, in honor of his king. Over 600 of these so-called planetoids have since been located within the same space. Ceres turned out to be the first, and largest, of the asteroids existing within the Asteroid Belt. However, under the terms of a 2006 IAU resolution, Ceres can be called a dwarf planet.
The king desired to give Piazzi a gold medal, in commemoration, but the astronomer requested the privilege of using the money for the purpose of a much-needed equatorial telescope. Then later in 1812 he received the commission to reform the weights and measures of Sicily in accordance with the metric system. Piazzi was a brilliant astronomer whose discoveries led to the discovery of Uranus as well as other asteroids near Earth.
Giuseppe began observations in May of 1791, and the first reports were published as early as 1792. Soon he was able to correct errors in the estimation of the obliquity of the ecliptic, of the aberration of light, of the length of the tropical year, and of the parallax of the fixed stars. He also thought it was necessary to revise the exsisting catalogue of stars to determine their exact postitions. So in 1803 he published a list of 6784 stars and in 1814 he published a second catalogue containing 7646 stars. Both lists were awarded prizes by the Institute of France.
While looking for a small star mentioned in one of the earlier lists he made his great discovery of the first known planetoid. At first he thought it was a fixed star, but once he noticed that it moved, he became convinced it was a planet, or as he called it, "a new star". But since he was unsure of his discovery he announced to the scientific world he had discovered a comet. These few but exact measurements enabled astronomer Carl Friedrich Gauss to calculate the orbit and to find that this was a new planet, between Mars and Jupiter. Piazzi's discovery confirmed the so-called "Titius-Bode's law", which predicted the existence of a fifth planet between the orbit of Mars and Jupiter.
Piazzi proposed the name of Ceres Ferdinandea, in honor of his king. Over 600 of these so-called planetoids have since been located within the same space. Ceres turned out to be the first, and largest, of the asteroids existing within the Asteroid Belt. However, under the terms of a 2006 IAU resolution, Ceres can be called a dwarf planet.
The king desired to give Piazzi a gold medal, in commemoration, but the astronomer requested the privilege of using the money for the purpose of a much-needed equatorial telescope. Then later in 1812 he received the commission to reform the weights and measures of Sicily in accordance with the metric system. Piazzi was a brilliant astronomer whose discoveries led to the discovery of Uranus as well as other asteroids near Earth.
Works Cited
Cunningham, C. J.. The First Asteroid. 2001. Star Lab Press. 7 January 2008.
Fox, William. "Giuseppe Piazzi." New Advent. 2007. Catholic Encylcopedia. 7 January 2008. http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/12072d.htm
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