Giovanni Battista Beccaria - physicist and mathematician

Monk who explained how lightning conductors work

Beccaria was Professor of Physics
at the University of Turin

The physicist, mathematician and Piarist monk Giovanni Battista Beccaria, whose work with electricity confirmed and expanded upon the discoveries of the American polymath and Founding Father Benjamin Franklin, died in Turin on this day in 1781.

At the age of 64 he had been ill and in pain for some years but was working right up to his death on a treatise on meteors.

For much of his life, Beccaria had been occupied in the study of electricity with particular focus on the discoveries made by Franklin, with whom he corresponded regularly.

He successfully explained such things as the workings of the Leyden Jar and the Franklin square, two devices in which static electricity could be captured and stored, and why pointed objects could discharge electrified objects at a distance.

He was also able to explain why lightning rods, or lightning conductors, protect a building by providing a path along which electricity generated in the air in the form of lightning can be directed safely to earth. 

Beccaria wrote and published a complete treatise on Franklin’s electrical theory, called Dell’ Elettricismo naturale ed artificiale (On Natural and Artificial Electricity) in 1753.

Born in Mondovì, a town in Piedmont about 80km (50 miles) south of Turin in the province of Cuneo, in October, 1716, Beccaria entered the religious Order of the Pious Schools or Piarists at the age of 16. 

The Piarists had been founded in 1617 by Spanish priest Joseph Calasanz. It is the oldest religious order in the world dedicated to education.  After studying under the order, he taught grammar, rhetoric and mathematics. 

Benjamin Franklin, with whom
Beccaria often corresponded

He studied mathematics with such success that the order appointed him professor of experimental physics, first in the Scuole Pie of Palermo and then in Rome. 

Beccaria acquired a reputation as an effective teacher but found himself at the centre of controversy in 1748, when he was appointed by royal authority as Professor of Physics at the University of Turin. This was a coveted position and Beccaria was subjected to complaints from rivals that he was not sufficiently qualified for the role. 

In response, his sponsors came up with an idea to silence his critics. They had heard about the work of the French physicist, Thomas-François Dalibard, whose experiment at Marly-la-Ville, north of Paris, had demonstrated that lightning was a form of electricity, and urged Beccaria to make this new field his own area of expertise.

Beccaria followed their advice and set about writing and publishing a complete treatise on the electrical theory of Benjamin Franklin, news of whose work with electricity in the United States had reached Europe in 1751. Beccaria’s Dell’ Elettricismo naturale ed artificiale was published only two years later. 

Devoting himself to research on atmospheric electricity, Beccaria made use of kites, rockets, and iron wire in conducting his experiments. 

Using an early electroscope developed by the English physicist William Henley, Beccaria noted that, in broken or stormy weather, positive and negative electrification were detected, whereas in calm, serene weather, positive dominated.  He attributed the forked character of lightning to the resistance of the air and theorised that the spontaneous rupturing of the shoes worn by a man struck by a lightning bolt was the result of the "moisture of the feet flying into vapour". 

The cover page of
Beccaria's treatise

Beccaria was also among the first to recognize and clearly state that the electrical charge on a conductor is confined to the surface and endorse Franklin’s views about the preventive and protective functions of lightning conductors. He was the first Italian to extract sparks from a conductor pointed to the sky.

His work confirmed the American’s finding that pointed rods could discharge electricity in the air, which eventually led to such rods being attached to tall buildings for the protection in an electrical storm of individuals on the ground. The King of Sardinia, Charles Emmanuel III, was so impressed that he asked Beccaria to install a lightning rod on the Royal Palace, 

In 1755, Beccaria was elected Fellow of the Royal Society of London. His work Dell'elettricismo artificiale e naturale was translated into English in 1778. Franklin described the treatise as “one of the best pieces on the subject in any language.”

Piazza Maggiore, the main square of the historic
Piedmont town of Mondovì, near Cuneo

Travel tip:

The historic town - and ancient city - of Mondovì is located in the Monregalese Hills at the foot of the southern Alps, where the Piedmont and Liguria regions meet. It is built on two levels, the upper being divided into several rioni (ancient quarters). The lower town developed from the 18th century when railway connections saw industries emerge. A funicular railway links the Breo quarter with Piazza, the oldest part of the town. Although the origins of Mondovì date back to the Roman Empire, it flourished during the Middle Ages, occupying a strategic position at the intersection of trade routes between Piedmont and the Mediterranean coast.  Piazza was founded around 1198 by the inhabitants of three hamlets, who joined forces to protect their community from outside threats. Nonetheless, the town was seized by the Bishops of Asti, followed by Charles I of Anjou, the Angevins, the Visconti, the Marquisate of Montferrat, the Acaja and, from 1418, the House of Savoy, who would leave an indelible mark on the character and architecture of the town, fortifying its walls and constructing buildings that still stand today.  In the mid-16th century, when it was occupied by France, Mondovì was the largest city in Piedmont and the seat of the region’s first university.

Cuneo's elegant Piazza Galimberti is one of the
largest squares in the whole of Italy

Travel tip:

The city of Cuneo, which developed at the confluence of the Stura and Gesso rivers about 28km (17 miles) west of Mondovì, is set out in a grid system with an elegant central square, Piazza Galimberti, one of the largest squares in Italy, after Piazza del Plebiscito in Naples. Surrounded by neo-classical buildings, it has a large statue of Giuseppe Barbaroux, the author of the Albertine Statute that formed the constitution of the Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont in 1848. The square is named after Duccio Galimberti, one of the heroes of the Italian resistance in the Second World War.   Cuneo had been acquired by the Duchy of Savoy in 1382 and remained an important stronghold of the Savoy state for many centuries.  Cuneo is the home of a chocolate confection called Cuneesi al rhum - small meringues with dark chocolate coating and a rum-based chocolate filling. They were the creation of Andrea Arione, whose bar and pasticceria, Caffè Arione, is still located in Piazza Galimberti.

Also on this day:

1508: The death of da Vinci painting subject Lucrezia Crivelli

1944: The birth of television journalist Bruno Vespa

1956: The birth of screenwriter and director Giuseppe Tornatore

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Maurizio and Giorgio Damilano – race walkers

Maurizio won Olympic gold in Moscow

Maurizio celebrates after his victory in the 1987 World
Championships in Rotterdam

Twins Maurizio and Giorgio Damilano celebrate their 61st birthdays today. 

The former race walkers were born on this day in 1957 in Scarnafigi in the province of Cuneo in Piedmont.

Maurizio won the gold medal at the 1980 Moscow Olympics in the 20km race walk, while his brother, Giorgio, finished 11th.

In sympathy with the American-led boycott of the Moscow Games following the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, the Italian athletes competed under the Olympic flag rather than the Italian tricolore.

Damilano was one of eight Italians to win gold medals in Moscow.

Giorgio was less successful than Maurizio, but did win the 20km race walk at the 1979 Italian Athletics Championships.

The brothers - Maurizio is wearing number
one in this picture - often raced each other

Maurizio was also the 1987 and 1991 World Champion in the 20km race walk. He had 60 caps for representing the national team between 1977 and 1992. He was supported through much of his career by the Italian car manufacturer, Fiat.

He also achieved a world record for the 30km race walk in 1992 with a time of 2:01:44.1, which he set in Cuneo.

Maurizio won two more Olympic medals, picking up the bronze medal for the 20km race walk at both the 1984 Games in Los Angeles and the 1988 Olympics in Seoul, South Korea.

After retiring from competition, Maurizio and Giorgio became coaches at the Saluzzo Race Walking School, created by the town of Saluzzo in Piedmont in 2002.

In 2001, they founded Fitwalking, a programme that focuses on the physical and psychological benefits of walking for an improvement in the quality of life.

Maurizio and Giorgio’s older brother, Sandro, who is 68, was coach to Italy’s national athletics team until 2011. He has also coached Chinese athletes in race walking.

Cuneo in wintertime with Monte
Bisalta in the background

Travel tip:

Scarnafigi, where the Damilano brothers were born, is a village in the province of Cuneo, about 25km (16 miles) south of Turin. Between 1943 and 1945 the city of Cuneo was one of the main centres for partisan resistance against the German occupation of Italy.

The Piazza Risorgimento in Saluzzo

Travel tip:

Saluzzo, where the Damilano brothers have established a race walking school, is a town built on a hill in the province of Cuneo. One of the most important sights is the Duomo, a late Gothic building constructed at the end of the 15th century. Saluzzo was the birthplace of typographer Giambattista Bodoni and Carla Alberto Dalla Chiesa, a military commander assassinated by the Sicilian mafia in Palermo in 1982.

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Flavio Briatore - entrepreneur

From clothing to luxury resorts via Formula One

Flavio Briatore has interests in a string of resorts
and restaurants serving wealthy clientele

The colourful and controversial entrepreneur Flavio Briatore was born on this day in 1950 in Verzuolo, a large village in the Italian Alps near Saluzzo in Piedmont.

Briatore is best known for his association with the Benetton clothing brand and, through their sponsorship, Formula One motor racing, but his business interests have extended well beyond the High Street and the race track.

His empire includes his exclusive Sardinian beach club Billionaire, Twiga beach clubs in Tuscany and Apulia, the Lion under the Sun spa resort in Kenya, the upmarket Sumosan, Twiga and Cipriani restaurants, and the Billionaire Couture menswear line.

Briatore was also for three years co-owner with former F1 chief executive Bernie Ecclestone and steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal of the English football club Queen’s Park Rangers.  He is also the man to whom the contestants must answer in the Italian version of the hit British TV series The Apprentice.

With a fortune estimated at £120m (€140m; $150m), Briatore lives the lifestyle of the super-rich clients he entertains at his clubs and restaurants, owns a £68.2m (€80m; $85m) yacht and has enjoyed the company of a string of beautiful and famous women.

These include supermodels Naomi Campbell and Heidi Klum, with whom he had a child, and the Italian TV presenter Adriana Volpe. In 2008 he married Elisabetta Gregoraci, once the Italian face of Wonderbra, who is 30 years his junior.  They have a son, Falco.

Briatore's wife, the former model Elisabetta Gregoraci

Both of Briatore’s parents were teachers but he was no academic, scraping through high school with the lowest grades. He found employment first as a ski instructor and then a restaurant manager before selling insurance.

It was while he was working at the Borsa – the Milan stock exchange – that in 1974 he met Luciano Benetton, founder of the Italian global clothing company.

Appointed director of group operations in the United States, where Benetton was undergoing significant expansion, Briatore’s job was to set up franchises across the country. He took a cut from each franchise agreement and, with 800 stores opened in the US in the 1980s, became an extremely wealthy man.

In 1989, Luciano Benetton began to sponsor F1 and, wanting someone to take charge of merchandising, turned again to Briatore.

From commercial director, Briatore was promoted to managing director and turned Benetton into a competitive F1 team, which he ran from 1990 to 1997. When the Benetton team was sold to Renault in 2000, Renault hired Briatore as team manager. In all, Briatore oversaw seven world titles in the constructors' and drivers' categories and was hailed as the man who ‘discovered’ the seven-times drivers’ champion, Michael Schumacher.

While there have been some spectacular successes in Briatore’s career, there have also been some catastrophes.

Flavio Briatore in his days as boss
of the Renault F1 team

One of his earliest jobs was as an assistant to businessman Attilio Dutto, owner of the Paramatti Vernici paint company in Cuneo that had previously been owned by Michele Sindona, the shady Sicily-born banker who laundered heroin proceeds for the Gambino family and was poisoned in prison.  Dutto was killed in 1979 in a suspected Mafia car bomb attack.

In 1980 Briatore was convicted on various counts of fraud and given two prison sentences amounting to four and a half years. These were reduced on appeal to two years and two months, although Briatore actually escaped jail by fleeing to the US Virgin Islands and benefitting from an amnesty on his return, which in Italian law amounts to the cancelling of the criminal convictions that led to the sentence.

His yacht at one time was seized during an investigation into alleged tax fraud and, in 2007, he was diagnosed with kidney cancer, for which he was treated successfully.

In 2009, Briatore was banned from motor racing after driver Nelson Piquet Jr alleged he had been instructed to crash deliberately in the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix in a move designed to help his Renault teammate, Fernando Alonso, another Briatore protégé, to win the race.

Motor racing’s governing body, the FIA, handed Briatore and his chief engineer, Pat Symonds, an indefinite ban. However, in 2010, Briatore’s ban was overturned by a French court and he was awarded €15,000 compensation, although his lawyers had asked for €1m.

He has remained involved with F1 as personal manager for Alonso, a close friend who drove the wedding car when he and Gregoraci were married at the Santo Spirito in Sassia church in Rome.

Travel tip:

Saluzzo, the nearest town to Briatore’s birthplace in Verzuolo, is known for its picturesque setting, built on a hill overlooking a fertile plain with a mountain backdrop, and close to the source of the River Po. Its well preserved historic centre features many antique shops and the main sights include Saluzzo cathedral, built at the end of the 15th century in Lombard-Gothic style.

Check Saluzzo hotels with Hotels.com

The expansive Piazza Galimberti in Cuneo

Travel tip:

The beautiful city of Cuneo, which developed at the confluence of the Stura and Gesso rivers, is set out in a grid system with a large, elegant central square, Piazza Galimberti, one of the largest squares in Italy, after Piazza del Plebiscito in Naples. Surrounded by neo-classical buildings, it has a large statue of Giuseppe Barbaroux, the author of the Albertine Statute that formed the constitution of the Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont in 1848. The square is named after Duccio Galimberti, one of the heroes of the Italian resistance in the Second World War.

More reading:

Elio de Angelis - last of the 'gentleman racers'

How Michele Alboreto almost ended Italy's long wait for a new champion

Ferruccio Lamborghini - the tractor maker who took on Ferrari

Also on this day:

1948: The birth of World Cup winning football coach Marcello Lippi

(Picture credits: Main Briatore pic by Minerva97; Elisabetta Gregoraci by franco.ruspa; Briatore in Renault days by Bert van Dijk; Piazza Galimberti by Gian Francesco Fanti; all via Wikemedia Commons)

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