Tag Archives: Jesuit astronomers

Specola Guestbook | July 14, 1923: Fr. Ricardo Cirera, S.J.

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This entry is part 74 of 82 in the series Specola Guestbook

Since its founding in 1891, many people have passed through the doors of the Vatican Observatory.  A quick perusal of our guestbook reveals several Names, including Popes, Nobel laureates, astronauts, actors, and saints. Today’s guestbook entry is from July 14, 1923, when Ricardo Cirera made a visit. Next to his name, Fr. Ricardo Cirera Salse, S.J. (1864-1932) wrote, “Fondador del Observatorio del Ebro” (Founder of the Ebro Observatory). From 1888 to 1893, he was in charge of the magnetic section of the Manila Observatory, where he conducted the first geomagnetic survey of the Philippines. He measured and tracked variations in the Earth’s magnetic field around the Philippines. In 1904, he founded the Ebro Observatory in Tortosa, Spain. He also directed the observatory from 1904 to 1919. The observatory was dedicated to studying the connection between meteorological phenomena and solar activity, terrestrial magnetism, seismic activity, and other geophysical activity. He founded the journal Ibérica and edited it from 1914-1917.

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The Virtuous Astronomer, Part III

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This entry is part 8 of 60 in the series And Then I Wrote

And then I wrote… as I mentioned the last two weeks, this article is adapted from a piece published in Italian in Civiltà Cattolica, which they ran in 2012. But I wrote it in English andI’m not sure the original English ever ran anywhere… because it runs to nearly 6,000 words, I have split it into three parts. The first two parst ran the last two weeks; here’s the finale, Part III, and I’ve decided not to hide it behind a firewall this time.. In order to do science, you must believe that science is worth doing. Which goes to the heart of the question: why do we do it? Do we study the stars to gain power or money or security by predicting the future, the way the astrologers try to do? To improve the timing of growing crops, the way the calendar-makers of the ancient world did? But our calendars don’t need constant revision; and our science has shown that astrology … Continue reading →

Solar Prominences and a Prominent Jesuit Astronomer

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Fr. Angelo Secchi, S.J. was the director of the observatory of the Pontifical Roman College from 1848 until his death in 1878.  During that time, he made important contributions in many areas of astronomy and terrestrial physics, including stellar spectroscopy, terrestrial magnetism, oceanography, meteorology, geodesy and cartography, and more. He can rightly be considered a founder of astrophysics, as he was one of the first astronomers to attempt to study the physics of stars, using the new technique of stellar spectroscopy to classify and study about 4000 stars.  In honor of Solar Week, this post will focus on his contributions to solar astronomy and solar physics, and in particular to one study among many: the study of solar prominences.   Secchi was interested in all aspects of solar physics. He took spectra of the solar atmosphere and the solar corona. He made many studies of sunspots and solar rotation. He even set up a terrestrial magnetism laboratory in his observatory facility … Continue reading →

Please Welcome our new Blogger: Brother Bob Macke SJ

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Br. Bob Macke joined the Vatican Observatory in July 2013, where he studies meteorite physical properties in the observatory’s meteorite laboratory. In August 2014, Br. Bob became the curator of the Vatican collection of 1200 meteorite specimens. Br. Bob is a member of the U.S. Central and Southern Province of the Society of Jesus. He was born in Fort Worth, Texas in 1974. After studying physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Washington University in St. Louis, he taught astronomy for a few years at Bowling Green State University (Bowling Green, Ohio) before entering the Society of Jesus in 2001. As a Jesuit, he studied philosophy at St. Louis University. He then taught physics, astronomy, and mathematics at Rockhurst University (Kansas City, Missouri) for one year, and then began a doctoral program studying meteorite physical properties at University of Central Florida. His dissertation, Survey of Meteorite Physical Properties: Density, Porosity and Magnetic Susceptibility, detailed measurements on more than … Continue reading →

Across the Universe: Teaching new stars

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This entry is part 80 of 191 in the series Across the Universe

This column first ran in The Tablet in June 2012 It would be hard to credit a philosopher who had never read Plato, or an expert in literature who was unfamiliar with Sappho or Homer. Every mathematician has learned Euclid’s geometry at some time (usually very early) in their studies; every artist has, at some point, encountered Praxiteles. Yet a science course that spent a significant chunk of its curriculum on Aristotle’s physics would raise eyebrows, to say the least. Jettisoning the wisdom of antiquity is a characteristic trait that differentiates science from other fields. (And of course it’s one obvious illustration of how Scripture is never a science text.) But if everything we learn from astronomy will inevitably be superseded by later work, then why do we even bother learning the current stuff? I’ve had students ask me that; and I was wondering it myself, attending the biennial Vatican Observatory Summer School being held in 2012 at our headquarters in … Continue reading →