Michele Rajna

Michele Rajna
Portrait c. 1903
Born(1854-09-28)September 28, 1854
Sondrio, Austrian Empire
DiedSeptember 29, 1920(1920-09-29) (aged 66)
Teglio, Kingdom of Italy
Known for
Academic background
EducationGhislieri College
University of Pavia
Academic work
InstitutionsBrera Astronomical Observatory
Polytechnic University of Milan
University of Bologna
Observatory of Bologna
Main interests

Michele Rajna (September 28, 1854 – September 29, 1920) was an Italian mathematician and astronomer. He led astronomy at the University of Bologna for nearly two decades, publishing studies of eclipses, Earth's magnetic field, and geodetic astronomy. He was the director of the Observatory of Bologna from 1903 until his death.

Early life and education

Rajna was born in Sondrio, a city in the Kingdom of Lombardy–Venetia in the Austrian Empire, in 1854.[1] He was the second-born son of Eugenio Paolo Rajna and Costanza Simonetta. His older brother Pio Rajna, born 1847, was an Italian philologist and literary critic who later served in the Senate of the Kingdom of Italy.

He attended Ghislieri College in Pavia, where he studied under astronomer Giovanni Schiaparelli at the Brera Astronomical Observatory.[1][2] Rajna attended the University of Pavia, graduating with a doctorate in mathematics in 1878.[3][4]

Career

Upon graduating from the University of Pavia, Rajna joined the Brera Astronomical Observatory in 1878.[5] In 1882, he was appointed Third Astronomer at the observatory and recognized for his mathematical work on Cartesian coordinate calculation by an invitation to join the Italian Geodetic Commission.[1] He became a lecturer in astronomy and geodesy at the Polytechnic University of Milan in 1890.[1] Wishing to remain in Milan, in 1897 he rejected an offer to chair the astronomy department at the University of Palermo.

Rajna became chair of astronomy at the University of Bologna in 1903.[2][3] He wrote a letter supporting the Vatican Observatory in 1907.[6] He directed the Observatory of Bologna until his death, attempting unsuccessfully to have it transferred to Villa Aldini, a more suitable position on a nearby hill.[7] A branch was later built in Loiano in 1933 by his successor, Guido Horn d'Arturo.[8]

Rajna's work focused primarily on geodetic astronomy and the influence of solar activity on Earth's magnetic field.[9][10][11] He found a method to graphically predict solar eclipses in 1891.[12][13][14] He published a volume of logarithm tables to five decimals with Otto Müller through Hoepli Editore in 1883 which became one of the most commonly used computational aids in Italy for decades.[15] It was republished in 1886 and again in 1891.[16] Rajna also published a volume calculating the true geographical local time of any place in Italy.[17] He was a member of the Italian National Academy.[18]

After frequent periods of depression and illness,[1] Rajna died on September 20, 1920, in Teglio, Italy.[2][18]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 "Michele Rajna". University of Bologna. Historical Archives of the Department of Astronomy. Retrieved March 31, 2026.
  2. 1 2 3 Mazliak, Laurent; Tazzioli, Rossana (October 8, 2009). Mathematicians at war: Volterra and his French colleagues in World War I. Springer Science & Business Media. p. 149. ISBN 978-90-481-2740-5. Retrieved March 31, 2026.
  3. 1 2 Terrestrial Magnetism and Atmospheric Electricity. University of Michigan. 1904. p. 144. Retrieved March 30, 2026.
  4. ↑ Society, Manchester Literary and Philosophical (1891). Memoirs and Proceedings of the Manchester Literary & Philosophical Society. The Society. p. 314. Retrieved March 30, 2026.
  5. ↑ The American Meteorological Journal. W.H. Burr. 1885. p. 546. Retrieved March 31, 2026.
  6. ↑ J, Gabriele Gionti, S.; S.J, Jean-Baptiste Kikwaya Eluo (January 4, 2018). The Vatican Observatory, Castel Gandolfo: 80th Anniversary Celebration. Springer. p. 225. ISBN 978-3-319-67205-2. Retrieved March 31, 2026.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  7. ↑ Malaspina, Marco; Galleti, Silvia. "Why an Astronomical Station in Loiano?". INAF OAS Bologna. Institute Nazionale di Astronomia. Retrieved March 30, 2026.
  8. ↑ "Museo della Specola, Bologna - Storia cap. 17". museospecola.difa.unibo.it. University of Bologna. Retrieved March 30, 2026.
  9. ↑ "La Specola, Bologna Observatory, Italy". UNESCO. UNESCO Portal to the Heritage of Astronomy - Show entity. Retrieved March 31, 2026.
  10. ↑ Brown, Ernest W. (January 1900). "Review: Michele Rajna, L'Ora Esatta Dappertutto, etc". Bulletin of the American Mathematical Society. 5 (5). ISSN 0002-9904. Retrieved March 30, 2026.
  11. ↑ The Geographical Journal. Royal Geographical Society. 1900. p. 88. Retrieved March 31, 2026.
  12. ↑ Rajna, Michele (1891). On Solar Eclipses (in German). University of Michigan. p. 9. Retrieved March 31, 2026.
  13. ↑ Michele, Rajna (1891). "Sulle eclissi solari del 6 giugno 1891 e del 16 aprile 1893 / nota del s.c. dott. Michele Rajna". opac.museogalileo.it. 2 (24): 16. Retrieved March 30, 2026.
  14. ↑ "Publications". Astronomical Society of the Pacific. 3: 329. November 18, 1891. doi:10.1086/120346/pdf. Retrieved March 30, 2026.
  15. ↑ "Recent Mathematical Tables". Mathematical Tables and Other Aids to Computation. 3 (21): 19–40. 1948. doi:10.2307/2002658. ISSN 0891-6837. Retrieved March 30, 2026.
  16. ↑ "Recent Mathematical Tables" (PDF). American Mathematical Society. Retrieved March 30, 2026.
  17. ↑ Bulletin of the American Mathematical Society. American Mathematical Society. 1899. pp. 260–261. Retrieved March 30, 2026.
  18. 1 2 Lockyer, Sir Norman (1921). Nature. Macmillan Journals Limited. p. 511. Retrieved March 31, 2026.
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