Giuseppe Toaldo, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Date of Death

    

Giuseppe 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


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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.

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