Giovanni Battista Amici

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Giovanni Battista Amici.

Giovanni Battista Amici (March 25, 1786 - April 10, 1863) was an Italian astronomer and microscopist.

Amici was born in Modena, Italy. After studying at Bologna, he became professor of mathematics at Modena, and in 1831 was appointed inspector-general of studies in the duchy. A few years later he was chosen director of the observatory at Florence, where he also lectured at the museum of natural history. Amici died in Florence in April of 1863.

His name is best known for the improvements he effected in the mirrors of reflecting telescopes and especially in the construction of the microscope. He was also a diligent and skillful observer, and busied himself not only with astronomical subjects, such as the double stars, the satellites of Jupiter and the measurement of the polar and equatorial diameters of the sun, but also with biological studies of the circulation of the sap in plants, the fructification of plants, infusoria etc. He invented the dipleidoscope

The Amici crater on the Moon was named in his honour.

[edit] References

This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.

[edit] Further reading

Ronchi, Vasco. (1970). "Amici, Giovan Battista". Dictionary of Scientific Biography 1: 135-137. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. (Note: this source gives Amici's date of death as 1868).