The Merz Refractors at the Brera Astronomical Observatory
In this paper I review briefly the history of the acquisition and utilization of the three Merz telescopes of the Brera Astronomical Observatory: the 22 cm Merz (Schiaparelli piccolo), the 49 cm Merz-Repsold (Schiaparelli grande) and the 16 cm Merz-Cavign
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After its establishment at the end of the eighteenth century, the Brera Observatory gained international renown thanks to the reputation of its directors, such as Louis Lagrange (1711–1783) and Ruggiero Boscovich (1711–1787). During the second third of the nineteenth century, however, it met with a period of progressive decadence, which was triggered by the deterioration of the political relationships between Lombardy and the Austrian government, after the end of the Napoleonic era and the Congress of Vienna. As to the three astronomers working in Brera in 1815, Barnaba Oriani (1752–1832) retired in 1817 and Angelo de Cesaris (1749– 1832) died in 1832, and since neither one of them was ever replaced, in 1860, only the elderly Francesco Carlini (1783–1862) remained. There was, consequently, obsolescence in the instrumental equipment, with the notable exceptions of the acquisitions of a Starke meridian circle in 1832 and an Amici 32 cm reflector in 1839. The new director, Giovanni Virginio Schiaparelli (1835–1910), described the situation he found in Brera in 1860 by stating that: … in the decade from 1850–1860, almost nothing remained [of the Brera Observatory] but the memory of its past splendor, and the name of an eminent old man [Carlini]. From 1830 on, the Brera astronomical studio no longer attracted the sort of men as distinguished as those who had rendered it famous up until then.1
An event revealing the climate of the epoch is the bequest made by Barnaba Oriani to the Observatory in 1832, as Schiaparelli commented: Oriani, in order to prevent everything [at the Observatory] from falling into ruin, made a testamentary disposition of 200 thousand Austrian liras in favour of the Observatory so that an annual pay of 4500 Austrian liras could be given to the second astronomer and 900 liras to a third scholar. There is every reason … to believe that, without this action by Oriani, the … nel decennio 1850–1860 altro quasi non ne rimaneva che la ricordanza degli antichi fasti, e il nome di un vecchio illustre. E dal 1830 in poi non uscirono più dallo studio astronomico di Brera tanti uomini distinti, e simili a quelli che lo avevan reso celebre fino a quell’epoca.
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M. Carpino (&) INAF-Osservatorio Astronomico di Brera, Milano, Italy e-mail: [email protected] © Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2017 I. Chinnici (ed.), Merz Telescopes, Historical & Cultural Astronomy, DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-41486-7_5
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M. Carpino Observatory would no longer exist or it would have been abandoned, as happened with some others in Italy.2
The situation changed in 1860, again as a consequence of political events. After the defeat of the Austrians at the battle of Solferino (on June 24th, 1859) and the armistice of Villafranca, Lombardy was annexed to the Kingdom of Sardinia; soon, the new government, mainly under suggestion of Quintino Sella (1827–1884) and Luigi Menabrea (1809–1896), sent a new astronomer to Brera, who would play a determinant role in the history of the Observatory for the next four decade
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