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Ancient instruments of high interest for research on the origin and diffusion of early scientific devices in the late XVI - early XVII centuries are reproduced in three paintings by Jan Brueghel the Elder. We investigated the nature and the…
The summit of the Antarctic plateau, Dome A, is proving to be an excellent site for optical, NIR, and THz astronomical observations. GATTINI was a wide-field camera installed on the PLATO instrument module as part of the Chinese-led…
In 1917 Einstein initiated modern cosmology by postulating, based on general relativity, a homogeneous, static, spatially curved universe. To counteract gravitational contraction he introduced the cosmological constant. In 1922 Alexander…
Donati's comet was one of the most impressive astronomical events of the nineteenth century. Its extended sword-like tail was a spectacular sight that inspired several literary and artistic representations. Traces of Donati's comet are…
There is a widespread interest to digitize the precious information contained in the astronomical plate archives, both for the preservation of their content and for its fast distribution to all interested researchers in order to achieve…
Neutrino astronomy has entered an exciting time with the completion of the first km3-scale neutrino telescope at the South Pole (IceCube) and the successful operation of the first under-sea neutrino telescope in the Mediterranean (Antares).…
Some of the earliest work on neutrino astronomy was accomplished by a class of underground detectors primarily designed for particle physics goals . These detectors used inexpensive water to obtain the large masses needed to observe the…
We present a historical review of Einstein's 1917 paper 'Cosmological Considerations in the General Theory of Relativity' to mark the centenary of a key work that set the foundations of modern cosmology. We find that the paper followed as a…
I summarize the excitement of my role primarily in the early years of X-ray Astronomy. As a "second-generation" X-ray astronomer, I was privileged to participate in the enormous advance of the field, both technically and astrophysically,…
The Roma International Conference on Astroparticle Physics covered gamma-ray astronomy, air shower experiments and neutrino astronomy on three successive days. I organize my brief summary comments into four topics that cut across these…
FLAMINGOS-2 (PI: S. Eikenberry) is a $5M facility-class near-infrared (1-2.5 micron) multi-object spectrometer and wide-field imager being built at the University of Florida for Gemini South. Here we highlight the capabilities of…
Specola Solare Ticinese is an observatory dedicated to Sunspot Number counting, which was constructed in 1957 in Locarno, Southern Switzerland, as an external observing station of the Zurich Federal Observatory. When in 1981 the…
The solar program of the Astronomical Observatory of Madrid started in 1876. For ten solar cycles, observations were made in this institution to determine sunspot numbers and areas. The program was completed in 1986. The resulting data have…
The CRONA project is a joint enterprise between Caltech and the astronomical observatory of Rome and Naples aimed to the photometric calibration of the Second Palomar Sky Survey (POSS-II) plates and to the construction of a complete…
This paper describes outstanding issues in astrophysics and cosmology that can be solved by astronomical observations in a broad spectral range from far infrared to millimeter wavelengths. The discussed problems related to the formation of…
Johann Bernoulli's optical solution of the brachistochrone problem is rebuilt on underlying (non-optical) principles. An "optical interpretation" is given afterwards.
The general idea of determining cosmological parameters with gravitational lensing statistics is outlined, and then recent work---with an emphasis on applicability to all cosmological models, observational bias, better statistics and…
A debate in the scientific literature has arisen regarding whether the orb depicted in Salvator Mundi, which has been attributed by some experts to Leonardo da Vinci, was rendered in a optically faithful manner or not. Some hypothesize that…
The English optician John Dollond (1706-1761) performed a number of experiments with prisms of various transparent materials and concluded that an achromatic lens could exist. At that time, the dominant opinion about light refraction denied…
Over the past five decades, solar neutrino research has been pivotal in driving significant scientific advancements, enriching our comprehension of both neutrino characteristics and solar processes. Despite numerous experiments dedicated to…