Related papers: Boscovich and the Brera Observatory
The OPERA neutrino oscillation experiment foresees the construction of two magnetized iron spectrometers located after the lead-nuclear emulsion targets. The magnet is made up of two vertical walls of rectangular cross section connected by…
Cultural heritage relating to the sky in the form of sundials, old observatories and the like, are commonly found in many cities in the Old World, but rarely in the New. This paper examines astronomical heritage embodied in the Barolo…
During the period 1962--1964, I had a tenure track Assistant Professorship in Mathematics at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, where I did research in probability theory, especially on linear diffusion processes. Being somewhat lonely…
Participation of mathematicians in the implementation of economic projects in Poland, in which mathematics-based methods played an important role, happened sporadically in the past. Usually methods known from publications and verified were…
The declination of the Sun along the year varies according to a sinusoid. Around the solstices this curve is approximated by a parabola. In kinematics a parabola is obtained with a constant acceleration. This acceleration has been estimated…
Observation of the CMB is central to observational cosmology, and the Antarctic Plateau is an exceptionally good site for this work. The first attempt at CMB observations from the Plateau was an expedition to the South Pole in December 1986…
Astronomical observations were used as a marker for time and the Calendar from ancient times. A more subtle calibration of epochs is thrown up by an observation of the position of the solstices and equinoxes, because these points shift in…
We provide a brief biography of seven French astronomers and physicists and of a Russian astronomer from the 19th and 20th centuries. Roger Bouigue (1920-) was the director of Toulouse Observatory in the 1960s. Claude-Louis Mathieu…
In the last decade of the 19th century Maharaja Takhtasingji Observatory was built at Poona (1888-1912) under the supervision of K.D.Naegamavala, with the grant from Maharaja of Bhavnagar (from where the name Bhavnagar Telescope must have…
Did the papacy tacitly permit the circulation of an explicitly Copernican book in 1660? One scholar has recently argued that it did. A close analysis of a unique illustration from that book, Andreas Cellarius's atlas Harmonia Macrocosmica,…
This essay demonstrates the key role of Astronomy in Botticelli's "Venus and Mars-NG915" painting, to date only very partially understood. Worthwhile coincidences among the principles of the Ficinian philosophy, the historical characters…
In 1738, the King of Naples and future King of Spain, Carlos III, commissioned the Spanish military engineer Roque Joaqu\'in de Alcubierre to begin the excavations of the ruins of the ancient Roman city of Pompeii and its surroundings,…
The Domus Aurea, Nero's last "palace" constructed in the very heart of ancient Rome, is a true masterpiece of Roman architecture. We explore here symbolic aspects of the emperor's project, analysing the archaeoastronomy of the best…
Summer vacations in the Dolomites were a tradition among the professors of the Faculty of Mathematical and Physical Sciences at the University of Roma since the end of the XIX century. Beyond the academic walls, people like Tullio…
Free translation of the original abstract in Spanish: Some of the most relevant milestones due to, or instigated by, mathematicians concerning the creation, development and advances of Cosmology as a scientific discipline are presented and…
Most methods of orbit determination are often difficult for numerical implementations since they are developed before the computer era. The recently developed mathematical technique of semi-definite programming (SDP) has been implemented…
Bruno Rossi is considered one of the fathers of modern physics, being also a pioneer in virtually every aspect of what is today called high-energy astrophysics. At the beginning of 1930s he was the pioneer of cosmic ray research in Italy,…
Marcello Cresti graduated in Physics in 1950 at the University of Pisa by attending the Scuola Normale Superiore; he became professor of Experimental Physics in Padua in 1965, and then Rector of the University of Padua in 1984. His research…
The study of the spatial layout of Christian churches has been of great interest since late Antiquity and the beginning of the Early Middle Ages, and has received a new impetus in recent literature when it was recognized that the…
An updated Science Vision for the SOFIA project is presented, including an overview of the characteristics and capabilities of the observatory and first generation instruments. A primary focus is placed on four science themes: 'The…