Niccolò Zucchi
| Niccolò Zucchi | |
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Niccolò Zucchi
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| Born | December 6, 1586 |
| Died | May 21, 1670 (aged 83) |
| Nationality | Italian |
| Fields | astronomer |
| Known for | physicist, astronomy, reflecting telescope |
Niccolò Zucchi (Italian pronunciation: [nikkoˈlɔ dˈdzukki; tˈtsukki]; December 6, 1586 – May 21, 1670) was an Italian Jesuit, astronomer, and physicist.
As an astronomer he may have been the first to see the belts on the planet Jupiter (on May 17, 1630), and reported spots on Mars in 1640.
His "Optica philosophia experimentis et ratione a fundamentis constituta", published in 1652–56, described his 1616 experiments using a curved mirror instead of a lens as a telescope objective, which may be the earliest known description of a reflecting telescope. In his book he also demonstrated that phosphors generate rather than store light. He also published two other works on mechanics and machines.
Niccolò Zucchi was fourth of eight children born into the noble family of Pierre Zucchi and Francoise Giande Marie. Three of his sisters became nuns, three of his brothers became Jesuits, and one brother became a secular priest.
Niccolò studied rhetoric in Piacenza and philosophy and theology in Parma. He finished his studies at the age of sixteen and entered the Jesuit order in Padua on October 28, 1602, in which he remained for the rest of his life.
Zucchi taught mathematics, rhetorics and theology as a professor at the Collegio Romano, and then was appointed as rector of a new Jesuit college in Ravenna by Cardinal Alessandro Orsini. He later served as the apostolic preacher, a post often referred to as “preacher to the pope”, for about seven years. He received patronage from Ranuccio II Farnese, Duke of Parma, to which Zucchi dedicated his book Nova de machinis philosophia in 1642. He also dedicated his 1652 book Optica philosophia, to Archduke Leopold of Austria. Near the end of his life, he was an official of the Jesuit house in Rome. Zucchi died in Rome on May 21, 1670.
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