Ileana Chinnici is an Italian historian of astronomy, book author, and biographer, whose biography of Angelo Secchi won the 2021 Osterbrock Book Prize of the American Astronomical Society.[1][2]

Education and career

edit

Chinnici earned a degree in physics in 1992 from the University of Palermo with a dissertation concerning Italian astronomer Pietro Tacchini, supervised by Giorgia Foderà. After working as a secondary school teacher, and a visiting position at the Paris Observatory, she joined the Palermo Astronomical Observatory as a research fellow in 1995, and became curator of the observatory's museum of astronomy in 1996. Since 2004 she has been a research astronomer at the observatory, in charge of museum activities.[3] She has also been an adjunct astronomer with the Vatican Observatory since approximately 2009.[2]

Books

edit

Chinnici's books include:

  • L'osseruatorio astronomico di Palermo, la storia e gli strumenti (with Giorgia Foder Serio, Flaccovio Ed., 1997)[4]
  • La carte du ciel: Correspondence inédite conservée dans les archives de l’Observatoire de Paris (edited, Paris Observatory, 1999)[5]
  • Alle origini dell'astrofisica italiana: Il carteggio Secchi–Tacchini 1861–1877 (with Antonella Gasperini, Fond. Giorgio Ronchi, 2013)[6]
  • Merz Telescopes: A global heritage worth preserving (edited, Springer, 2017)[7]
  • Decoding the Stars: A Biography of Angelo Secchi, Jesuit and Scientist (Brill, 2019)[8]
  • Angelo Secchi and Nineteenth Century Science: The Multidisciplinary Contributions of a Pioneer and Innovator (edited with Guy Consolmagno, Springer, 2021)

References

edit
  1. ^ Seitzer, Patrick (12 October 2020), "Ileana Chinnici Receives 2021 Osterbrock Book Prize for Biography of Angelo Secchi", News, American Astronomical Society, retrieved 2022-05-23
  2. ^ a b Macke, Br. Robert (13 October 2020), "Specola Adjunct Scholar Chinnici Wins Osterbrock Book Prize", Sacred Space Astronomy, Vatican Observatory
  3. ^ Curriculum Vitae et Studiorum, retrieved 2022-05-23
  4. ^ Review of L'osseruatorio astronomico di Palermo:
  5. ^ Reviews of La carte du ciel:
  6. ^ Review of Alle origini dell'astrofisica italiana:
  7. ^ Reviews of Merz Telescopes:
  8. ^ Reviews of Decoding the Stars:
    • Euvé, François (2020), Revue des Questions Scientifiques, 191 (1–2): 228–230{{citation}}: CS1 maint: untitled periodical (link)
    • Graney, Christopher M. (Summer 2020), "Modern European", The Catholic Historical Review, 106 (3): 496–498
    • Orchiston, Wayne (April 2020), Journal of Astronomical History and Heritage, 23 (1): 227–228, Bibcode:2020JAHH...23..227O{{citation}}: CS1 maint: untitled periodical (link)
    • Pasachoff, Naomi (October 2019), "In the footsteps of Galileo: raising the twenty-first-century profile of Father Angelo Secchi", Metascience, 29 (1): 77–80, doi:10.1007/s11016-019-00470-6
    • Udías, Agustín, S.J. (January 2020), Journal of Jesuit Studies, 7 (2): 319–322, doi:10.1163/22141332-00702011{{citation}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: untitled periodical (link)
edit