Giuseppe Toaldo, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Date of Death
TweetGiuseppe Toaldo
Italian physicist
Date of Birth: 11-Jul-1719
Place of Birth: Pianezze, Veneto, Italy
Date of Death: 11-Nov-1797
Profession: astronomer, physicist
Zodiac Sign: Cancer 
About Giuseppe Toaldo
- Giuseppe Toaldo (b.
- at Pianezze, 1719; d.
- at Padua, 1797) was an Italian Catholic priest and physicist.
- In his fourteenth year he entered the seminary of Padua, in which he subsequently taught mathematics and Italian literature.
- While connected with the seminary he edited the works of Galileo (1744), for which he wrote an appreciative preface and critical notes.
- In this edition, for the first time since Galileo Galilei's condemnation, it was published with ecclesiastical approval the Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems.
- In 1754 he was appointed pastor of Montegalda; and, eight years later, was called to the chair of astronomy in the University of Padua.
- Toaldo, like his contemporaries, Divisch and Giovanni Battista Beccaria (both priests), gave special attention to the study of atmospheric electricity and to the means of protecting buildings against lightning.
- He advocated the erection of lightning rods, adopting the views of Benjamin Franklin on their preventive and protective action, rather than those of the French school led by Abbé Nollet.
- His treatise "Della maniera di difendere gli edificii dal fulmine" (1772) and his pamphlet "Dei conduttori metallici a preservazione degli edifici dal fulmine" (1774) contributed largely to remove the popular prejudices of the time against the use of the "Franklinian rod"; and through his exertions lightning-conductors were placed on Siena Cathedral, on the tower of St.
- Mark's, Venice, on powder magazines, and ships of the Venetian navy.
- Toaldo was a member of many of the learned bodies of Europe, notably of the Royal Society, London.
- The asteroid 23685 Toaldo is named for him.
Read more at Wikipedia