Meteorology pioneer who persuaded Italy to use lightning rods
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| Giuseppe Toaldo was one of the first to use data to predict meteorological patterns |
Toaldo was ordained a priest 1743 and remained a member of the clergy until his death, although while he was addressed as Abbot - abate - during his time at the university, this was purely a courtesy title and did not come with any ecclesiastical duties.
In the scientific field, Toaldo is also credited with persuading sceptical fellow clergy members that attaching a lightning rod to a church tower was not the act of heresy suggested by centuries-old superstition but a legitimate way to save lives.
He designed the University of Padua’s renowned astronomical observatory, La Specola, which remained in use until the 1930s, and he created one of Europe’s first meteorological networks, recording data from more than 30 observers across the Venetian Republic.
Toaldo was born in 1719 in Pianezze, a village about 30km (19 miles) north of Vicenza. He entered the episcopal seminary of Padua in 1733, graduated in theology in 1742 and was ordained a priest by the Bishop of Padua the following year.
Soon after graduating, he was entrusted with editing the works of Galileo Galilei, the astronomer and physicist, which were being reprinted by the seminary's press. In doing so, he obtained the permission of the Catholic Church to include Galileo’s controversial Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems, the first to do so since the text was banned and Galileo convicted of heresy just over 100 years earlier because it supported the view that the sun, rather than Earth, was the centre of the solar system.
After serving as the parish priest at Montegalda, a small town roughly equidistant between Vicenza and Padua, for eight years, Toaldo moved to the University of Padua, being appointed chair of astronomy in 1764.
As professor of astronomy and meteorology, he immediately began recording painstaking daily meteorological and astronomical observations, a practice he would maintain until his death.
Between 1767 and 1777 he oversaw the design and construction of La Specola, the astronomical observatory. It was housed inside a 14th century tower that was part of the Torlonga, a tower from a castle originally built in the 13th century at a point at which the Bacchiglione river splits into two forks just south of the centre of Padua. The tower contained a lower observatory, 16m (52ft) above ground level, and an upper observatory, at a height of 35m (115ft).
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| A French publication of Toaldo's treatise on lightning conducters |
Before the lightning rod’s invention, thunderbolts were interpreted as the direct expression of God's wrath and judgment. Preventing a strike was seen by many religious traditionalists as an attempt to interfere with divine plans and therefore regarded as heresy.
When a storm approached, churches would frantically ring their bells to disperse "evil spirits" in the air. Not only did it not work, it cost the lives of hundreds of bell-ringers, church bell towers being the very structures most likely to be struck by lightning in an electrical storm.
Nonetheless, many still refused to install what they deemed the "heretical rod" and it took a major catastrophe before they even considered changing their minds. This came about in 1769, when lightning struck the Church of San Nazaro in Brescia, which was being used by the Republic of Venice to store 90 tons of gunpowder. The resulting explosion killed 3,000 people and flattened about a sixth of the city.
In the wake of this disaster, Toaldo used his unique position as a priest as well as a scientist to persuade church leaders that lightning rods were not the tools of the Devil but a gift from God to protect human life.
Toaldo also argued that the pointed tip that characterised Franklin’s lightning rod was more effective than the round, blunted tip of an alternative version designed in France and, as a result of his treatise, “Franklinian” rods were installed at many vulnerable historical structures in Italy, including St Mark's Campanile in Venice and the cathedral in Siena, as well as critical gunpowder stores and warships belonging to the Venetian navy.
As work on the observatory progressed, Toaldo published work on barometric and tidal studies and launched the Giornale astro-meteorologico, an annual almanac compiling data from the network of meteorological observers he assembled across the Republic of Venice.
By the 1780s, he had enough data to begin to see patterns in the weather. In his Climate Cycle Hypothesis, he formalised the theory that meteorological patterns returned roughly in nine and 18-year cycles and connected lunar cycles directly to terrestrial climate patterns.
Although Toaldo’s astro-meteorological theories were eventually discounted as modern physics proved that lunar atmospheric tides are too weak to influence weather patterns significantly, they were highly celebrated during the Enlightenment, when they were seen as a valuable tool in agricultural planning.
Giuseppe Toaldo died on November 11, 1797, after suffering a stroke. Records show that he was actively taking astronomical and meteorological measurements until just three days before his death.
After his death, Toaldo’s nephew and long-time assistant, Vincenzo Chiminello, was appointed in his place as director of the Astronomical Observatory of Padua and assumed Toaldo's chair of astronomy and meteorology at the university. His Giornale astro-meteorologico continued to be published for many decades.
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| Giotto's frescoes inside the Scrovegni Chapel are one of Padua's many important attractions |
The city of Padua in Veneto is just 25 minutes west of Venice by train, yet despite being one of northern Italy's oldest and most captivating cultural attractions it remains free from the overwhelming crowds of its famous coastal neighbour. More than 25km (16 miles) of elegant medieval porticoes help visitors explore the city’s lively market piazzas, as well as a host of important historical sights. These include the Scrovegni Chapel, housing Giotto’s early 14th-century masterpiece fresco cycle of biblical scenes, and Palazzo Bo, the oldest part of the University of Padua, which still keeps the original wooden desk where Galileo Galilei taught physics, alongside the world's oldest surviving permanent anatomical theatre. Also not to be missed are Prato della Valle, a broad elliptical square featuring a central island encircled by a scenic water canal and a ring of 78 marble statues depicting historic figures, and the Basilica di Sant’Antonio, a multi-domed Byzantine-Gothic structure housing the tomb of Saint Anthony and bronze masterpieces by Donatello. In the centre, the Palazzo della Ragione is a 13th-century medieval courthouse known for its vast, upper great hall - Il Salone - the walls of which are covered by astrological frescoes.
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| The Torlonga, the former castle tower in which Toaldo created his renowned astronomical observatory |
La Specola, the astronomical observatory that Giuseppe Toaldo built, remained in use until the 1930s, when the University of Padua decided to procure a modern facility, the Asiago Astrophysical Observatory, which was constructed on a plateau north of Padua. The castle tower in which the original was housed was built in the 13th-century by Padua’s then-ruler, Ezzelino III da Romano. The tower, which served as a dungeon where prisoners were tortured at the orders of the tyrannical Ezzelino, was raised further in the 14th century during a reconstruction by Francesco I da Carrara. In the lower observatory, named the Sala Meridiana; noon was measured on the meridian line sunk in the floor. The upper observatory has large windows almost six metres high. A plaque at the entrance carries an inscription by Toaldo that says: This tower, which once led to infernal shadows now, under the auspices of the Venetians, opens the way to the stars. Since 1994 the tower has been home to an astronomical museum. As well as displays outlining the history of astronomy in Padua and Europe from the 18th century, the museum offers the chance to see a superb collection of antique astronomical observation equipment, including English-made instruments from the 18th century, and telescopes from Germany and Austria.
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Further reading:
Why Giovanni Battista Beccaria regularly corresponded with Benjamin Franklin
How Galileo Galilei was convicted of heresy after trial by Inquisition
Alessandro Volta, inventor of the first electric battery
Also on this day:
1696: The birth of composer and violinist Andrea Zani
1761: The birth of political revolutionary Filippo Buonarroti
1854: The birth of Alessandro Mussolini, socialist father of Fascist leader Benito
1869: The birth of King Victor Emmanuel III
1932: The birth of sports writer and presenter Germano Mosconi
1961: The birth of Montalbano actor Luca Zingaretti
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