Letters in the Earth Sciences: Their Historic Value and Present-Day Scientific Relevance

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ANNALS OF GEOPHYSICS, VOL. 45, N. 5, October 2002

Letters in the Earth Sciences: their historic value and present-day scientific relevance

Graziano Ferrari SGA Storia Geofisica Ambiente, Bologna, Italy

1. Introduction Among the hundreds of the world’s seismological observatories that have recorded Scientific letters, of great importance in the earthquakes ever since the early 1890s (Ferrari, history of science and scientific instrumentation, 2000), unfortunately not all of them have kept have a particular importance for those sectors of their recordings archives intact. In many cases earth sciences in which structured observation these were partly or totally destroyed for a great networks are distributed across the territory, such variety of causes: human (state of abandonment, as seismology, meteorology, geomagnetism and deliberate destruction or wars) and natural (fires, astronomy. It may come as a surprise to know earthquakes, floods, etc.). At times the recordings that in the historical scientific letter collections of the most important earthquakes have been there can be information having a certain scien- lost, with serious damage done to research. The tific novelty. The current scientific relevance for reproductions of their seismograms and/or related seismology of the content of some historical information that can be gleaned from several letters is one of the aspects that most of all letters, appropriately re-evaluated according to motivate an investment into this kind of research, the current methods of analysis, can still provide more by the seismologists than by the historians important elements and return part of the in- of science. The experiences conducted up until formation lost. now within the TROMOS project (INGV-SGA) Within the framework of a broad international framework have led us to identify the following collaboration in the projects IASPEI Sub- types of information: description on the effects Committee Historical Instruments and Docu- of seismic events; scientific comments to theo- ments in Seismology and the ESC Working Group ries, to publications, etc.; graphs; reproductions History of Seismometry (Ferrari, 2000), realised of seismograms; news of loans of recordings; on the experience of the TROMOS project, the information and drawings of instruments, their idea of starting up a specific research strand and location and orientation within the observatories. collaboration into the scientific correspondence The first three information types do not in the earth sciences was born. It is true that the require particular comments, while the others are experience hitherto performed mainly refers to very important for seismological research and it the seismological field and at most to the is worth deepening several aspects. meteorological field, but is should nevertheless be observed that the disciplinary distinction is rather recent and that in any case in Italy the Mailing address: Dr. Graziano Ferrari, SGA Storia meteorological and seismic observation has Geofisica Ambiente, Via Bellombra 24/2, 40136 Bologna, often been conducted in long-established Italy; e-mail: [email protected] astronomical observatories. Thus the materials,

703 Graziano Ferrari the observations and history of distinct disci- the Internet, the most diverse information plines mingle together. The astronomical ob- forms and thus make it possible to realise what servatories of Brera at Milan, Turin, Piacenza, only a few years ago was unthinkable: a single the Collegio Romano in Rome, Capodimonte letters archive concerning the scholars of earth in Naples and Palermo, to mention just a few, sciences. are some examples of how a historical Italian The project, enlarged to embrace a broader astronomical observatories have constituted the community of scholars, aims to promote and natural home that hosted meteorological foster the identification, cataloguing, and elec- observation first, followed by seismological tronic scanning of the letters, thus making a- observation (Ferrari, 2002). vailable the files to of interest for the study of Numerous and largely identified files of his- the history of earth sciences and astronomy. torical correspondence of interest for meteorology Parallel to the project we also aim to enhance and astronomy lie idle, uncatalogued, and even the recovery in electronic format of everything risking dispersion. The problem of cataloguing hitherto published: catalogues of letters, registers, the files and above all managing them it with as integral letter transcriptions; this phase should view to consultation for study purposes has often also be flanked by a digital scanning of the letters been a disincentive that has prevented the pre- themselves. servation bodies from ever getting off the ground. Cataloguing, scans and online availability are Within the scope of the TROMOS project, performed respecting the rights established by we are digitally scanning the files of scientific the law and by the specific agreements stipulated correspondence of some of the most important with the public or private bodies that preserve Italian seismological observatories. The cata- the files subjected to the study. logues and scans are conducted in collabora- In order to discuss the methodological aspects tion with the conservatories of documentation, of the study of the scientific correspondence and both public and private, and is made for their their scientific relevance, a seminar has been benefit. organised for 10th May 2002, promoted by the The letters of the files of Timoteo Bertelli author in collaboration with the Istituto Nazionale (1826-1905), Pietro Tacchini (1838-1905) and di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV) and the part of that of Giulio Grablovitz (1846-1928) Ufficio Centrale di Ecologia Agraria (UCEA), have already been submitted to electronic at the congress hall of the UCEA, historic head- scanning, respectively held at the Centro Studi quarters of meteorology and seismology in Italy. Storici Barnabiti of Rome (transferred there from At the seminar, apart from the scholars most its original site of production and preservation, committed to studies of this kind over the past the «alla Querce» Boarding School of Florence), few years, the descendants of the most illustrious the Ufficio Centrale di Ecologia Agraria in Rome Italian scholars of the earth sciences have also been and at the home of the descendants of Grablovitz invited: Mario Baratta (1868-1935), Pietro Caloi (temporarily kept at SGA). It is no coincidence (1907-1978), Michele Stefano de Rossi (1834- that the first systematic digital scan was perfor- 1898), Giulio Grablovitz (1846-1928) and Quintino med on the Tacchini file: he was an astronomer, Sella (1827-1884), besides a prestigious repre- ‘meteorologist’ and ‘seismologist’, at least from sentation of the public, private and ecclesiastic the institutional point of view. Italian archives, of interest to this sector. The digital archive hitherto produced has brought together over 7000 letters, for a total of over 11000 pictures, received by Tacchini, Ber- 2. The seminar telli and Grablovitz from over 800 correspon- dents, all surveyed in the TROMOS database and The seminar was held under the splendid documented by all the biographical information Renaissance ceilings of the UCEA, furbished to available. host congresses and exhibitions. Modern computer technologies allow us In order to represent the various situations to store and distribute, via DVD-ROM and existing in this particular study sector and the

704 Letters in the Earth Sciences: their historic value and present-day scientific relevance multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary charac- example, its crucial role in the reconstruction of teristics of the various approaches, the day of the history of international scientific institutions study developed along five strands: 1) scientific such as the International Astronomical Union, letters: study traditions and prospects; 2) frag- established and developed thanks to those schol- ments of the European context; 3) case studies ars whose collaboration went far beyond the offi- in Italy; 4) places of observation; 5) places of cial availability granted by the various States. preservation. Graziano Ferrari (SGA Storia Geofisica Am- Domenico Vento (Director of the UCEA, biente, Bologna) with his talk on Correspondence Rome) opened the session with a welcoming in Seismology, historical value and present-day message that traced back the stages from the scientific relevance outlines the role and the birth and the transformations of the Office he importance of the letters between scholars of is directing. Vento briefly discussed the great seismology, developing and exemplifying some historic and scientific value of the documentary of the aspects alluded to in the introductory part and instrumental assets of the UCEA, generally of this text. He also mentioned the cataloguing acknowledged for some time. He also recalled project, the electronic reproduction and the dis- the long and well-established tradition, within semination of the scientific correspondence in the TROMOS project, between the UCEA on the the earth sciences, started up within the TROMOS one hand and INGV and SGA on the other, and project, inviting those in attendance to join in he expressed his hope that the renewed cultural as well. understanding between these bodies could achieve new and important objectives. 2.2. Fragments of the European context

2.1. Scientific letters: study traditions A couple of experiences of recovery and and prospects analysis of correspondence performed in the European field help us to contextualise the Italian This section was dedicated to the relating of experience in this sector. In one case it is a matter research experiences having a consolidated of a very advanced experience, belonging to the tradition, and two talks on astronomy and British tradition, which documents the status seismology were given. There also emerged the and the study method of the New Dictionary of international character that this kind of research National Biography (DNB) and the materials can have, given the universal nature of the available to the researchers. The second case research itself and the relationship between the deals with a research experience performed in scholars. Spain, similar to the one performed in Italy within Pasquale Tucci (Institute of General Applied the TROMOS project. Physics, University of Milan) with his talk on Anita McConnell (Research editor, New The correspondence between Otto Struve and DNB Oxford University Press) with her talk on Giovanni Virginio Schiaparelli (1864-1904), two the ‘New Dictionary of National Biography’: A eminent astronomers who lived between the 19th New Look at British Earth Scientists presented and 20th centuries, presented by means of the the contents of the DNB, with particular regard study of an important scientific collection, a for the British earth scientists, and the places, clear-cut example of the potential that this kind the materials and the instruments of their re- of documentary evidence has for the history of search. The New Dictionary of National Biogr- science, embedding it in the cultural and political aphy: (http://www.oup.co.uk/newdnb) contains context of the day. In reconstructing, through some 60000 names of British people active from some 280 letters preserved in Milan and Pulkovo ca. 60 B.C. to 2000 A.D., in Scotland, Ireland, (Russia), the major stages in the scientific and North America and other colonies, and of foreign public lives of the two scholars, Tucci also paused people who were active in Britain. It includes to reflect on the specific value of the testimonies more than 100 people who were active in the provided by this kind of documentation. For earth sciences. In preparing their articles,

705 Graziano Ferrari searches were made for their correspondence and letters sent by Tacchini to Secchi preserved at papers. the Archives of the Pontifical Gregorian Uni- The survival and whereabouts depends lar- versity, Rome. gely on the date, affiliation, and family interests Ileana Chinnici (Astronomical Observatory, of the scientists concerned. McConnell also made Palermo) in his talk on Pietro Tacchini ‘astrono- an overview of the main institutions holding mer’ in the scientific correspondence preser- documents of interest for the DNB, such as uni- ved at the UCEA outlined Tacchini’s scientific versity and the scientific societies archives, the biography with special regard for the contribution Public Records Office in London and the John of this great scientist in reorganising the network Milne Library. of astronomical observatories, documented by Josep Batlló (CRHT Dept. De Matematica the letters of the Tacchini epistolary archive Aplicada I, Barcelona) with his contribution on preserved in the Library of the UCEA. Scientists and scientific associations in Catalonia Franca Mangianti (Central Office of Agrarian (Spain) in the early 20th century: manuscript Ecology, Rome) Pietro Tacchini ‘meteorologist’ versus published research brought his study in the epistolary documentation of the UCEA experience within the seismological and meteor- (1879-1899) went over the experience of Tac- ological field, relating to published and un- chini as a meteorologist and the first director of published documentation on scholars, obser- the UCEA, documenting it with letters from the vatories and scientific associations in Catalonia. Tacchini epistolary archive of the UCEA (wholly He also highlighted the present-day relevance of digitally scanned by the TROMOS project) and the various kinds of documentation, and in that of the Archive of the Pontifical Gregorian particular the letters, in regard to the research in University. the meteorological and seismological fields, with Francesco Obrizzo (INGV-OV, Naples) and some examples for Catalonia of the recon- Edvige Schettino (Department of Physics, struction of the macroseismic maps of historical University of Naples) presented a contribution earthquakes and climatological maps. on The machines of the Bourbons in Naples between Collection and Museum: verbal sources and others (1840-1850) in which they recalled 2.3. Case studies in Italy how the Royal Cabinet, made up of an initial nucleus of 200 scientific instruments, where One of the main figures in the history of the magnetic, meteorological and time measure- earth sciences at the end of the 18th century is ments were also made, acted as a teaching Pietro Tacchini, a leading personality in as- laboratory for the heir to the throne Francis II of tronomy, who from 1879 had the scientific, Bourbon. The instrumental resources recovered political and organisational skills to set up and in the ten-year period 1985-1995 are the subject develop the national meteorological and geo- of study, supported by the documentary and dynamic services within the scope of the Cen- epistolary evidence. tral Meteorology Office (and from 1887 also Geodynamics). Three talks outlined the complex biographical profile of this scientist seen from 2.4. Places of observation different disciplinary perspectives. Letizia Buffoni and Edoardo Proverbio The changing strategies for monitoring the (Astronomical Observatory of Brera, Milan) with observation networks, both seismological and The contribution of Angelo Secchi and Pietro meteorological, many of which are often Tacchini to the birth of earth and solar me- centralised and heavily automated, have radically teorology: the role of correspondence, developed modified the functions of several ancient ob- some aspects of the scientific and human rela- servatories, the surviving ones, transforming tions existing between Pietro Tacchini and them in some cases into places for the pre- Angelo Secchi, two of the greatest 18th century servation of the historical materials of their Italian astronomers, through the study of the history of observation. In other cases these

706 Letters in the Earth Sciences: their historic value and present-day scientific relevance scientific institutes have been able to adapt to took part in the seminar and the expertise of their the new requirements of modern research and representatives. represent the places where modern monitoring Filippo Lovison (Barnabite Historical Studies systems cohabit with the preservation and the Centre, Rome) in his The earth sciences in the valorisation of the material traces of the long epistolary archives of the Barnabite scientists historical tradition of observation. In the hope briefly but incisively recalled the contribution of of providing a broad picture of the sites having a several 19th and 20th century Barnabite scientists long scientific tradition in the seismological and to the progress in several sectors of the earth meteorological field, the representatives of the sciences such as: Timoteo Bertelli, Francesco various observatories that are still active were Denza (1834-1898), Camillo Melzi d’Eril (1851- invited, amongst which the «Vincenzo Nigri» 1929), to mention some of the most important. Observatory of Foggia, still kept working by the In recalling the long collaboration of the Bar- descendants of the founder, and the Ximenian nabites with the research performed within the Observatory of Florence of the Scolopi fathers. TROMOS project, Lovison stressed how Owing to other commitments, only the Piacenza important it is for the historical sites preserving Observatory was able to accept the invitation. the ancient epistolaries not to be considered Graziano Ferrari (SGA Storia Geofisica merely as ‘document containers’, but as centres Ambiente, Bologna) and Matteo Cerini (Director for the study and the valorisation of the historical of the Observatory «Alberoni», Piacenza) documentation they are preserving. It is im- presented a contribution on The seismological portant for the archive to benefit, as in the case correspondence of the ‘Alberoni’ observatory of of the TROMOS project, of scientific collabo- Piacenza, first of all recalling that the observatory rations that can help to draw from the docu- of Piacenza is one of the rare cases of a long mentation the historical and currently relevant scientific tradition, still active, that has its roots scientific contents. In confirming the Centre’s in the 1870s, and where the modern instruments availability and its willingness to collaborate with are side by side with the ancient ones and the the scholars and with the project on the scientific related historical documentation. From the correspondence as described by Ferrari, Lovison Observatory’s letters archive, which Cerini is underlined the need to reflect on some aspects patiently recomposing, the more recent history of the dissemination of the digital copies of the of the Observatory and its instruments is letters, especially via the Internet. emerging: from the events that brought them to Nella Eramo (Central State Archive, Rome) Piacenza in the 1920s and their characteristics. with her talk on The archive of the General All these elements are of great scientific value Directorate of Agriculture in the Central State today of we consider the fact that the Observatory Archive, outlined a brief historical and archival has intact over 15000 original seismograms of profile of the archive of the General Directorate enormous scientific value. of Agriculture, with special regard to the re- percussions on the history of the earth sciences. These materials often document the reasons, the 2.5. Places of preservation conditioning, the motivations behind the choices made and the paths taken by scientists and public The Archive and the Library of the Barnabite administrators in the development of the study centre, the Central State Archive, the meteorological and seismological observational Library of the Neapolitan Society for Local networks. Eramo also recalled the important History and the Archive of the Pontifical documents in the history of geology, citing some Gregorian University are very important exam- documents dating back to the early 1870s in ples of the contribution that can come from these which the urgent need for a geological map of ‘historical containers’ both because of the the Kingdom of Italy was manifest. importance of the historical documentary re- Paola Milone (Neapolitan Society for the sources contained therein, and the availability to Local History, Naples − SNSPN) with her pres- collaborate demonstrated by the bodies which entation on The Seismic Archive of the Nea-

707 Graziano Ferrari politan Society for the Local History, Milone first within the scope of the project, subsequently of all recalled the present-day knowledge on named Letters in Earth Sciences, for the recovery, the origins of this important Archive, estab- reproduction and valorisation of the scientific lished upon the nucleus of the library and archive correspondence in the earth sciences. belonging to the French naturalist Alexis Perrey, The seminar has also been followed up on a acquired by the Club Alpine of Naples (CAI), European scale during the 28th ESC General and the reasons that brought this wealth of Assembly in Genoa, where the Letters in Earth information to Naples in 1878, later given by the Sciences project was presented, arousing posi- CAI to the SNSPN in 1893 or 1894. The Society tive feedback from a number of seismologists is currently cataloguing all the library, docu- operating in the historical sites of European mentary and iconographic material available in seismology preserving an important epistolary the archive, in which there stands out the documentation. substantial epistolary collection of Perrey him- Contacts are being fostered to formalise the self, that goes from 1842 to 1877 with some gaps, collaboration between the INGV and bodies and having nonetheless an indisputable historical scholars interested in participating in the project. and scientific value for seismology. A web site is under construction, for the moment Lydia Salviucci Insolera (Director of the a demo version is available (at the address http:// Archive of the Pontifical Gregorian University, 80.117.141.2/letters), which will allow us to Rome) with her talk on The scientific archives disseminate the historical epistolary materials, of the Pontifical Gregorian University: research the reproductions, the elaborations and more methods, coordination and future potential generally the products of the collaborations outlined the principal contents of the Archive developed. The project is open to all the re- with particular regard to the most important Jesuit searchers and the institutions that may be inter- scholars, particularly in physics and astronomy. ested, and they are invited to get in touch with She confirmed the opening and the great attention the author. and interest of the Gregorian University for collaboration with the scientific world and the historians of science. She put forward some REFERENCES proposals, amongst which that of setting up a communications network among the scholars FERRARI, G. (2000): The new IASPEI Sub-Committee who may be a point of reference for the Archive’s Historical instruments and related documents in operators, and selecting together the Archive’s seismology: goals, objectives and first results, in materials relating to Jesuit scholars of special Proceedings of the XXII IUGG General Assembly, Birmingham, 19-30 July 1999, Sismol. Res. Lett., 71 interest for the earth sciences. (5), 553-561. FERRARI, G. (2002): Census, filing and elaboration of The scholars who took part in the seminar scientific letters in the earth sciences, Nuncius, 17 (1), left one another hoping for further collaboration 307-320.

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