Amici portrayed by L. Caporelli in 1861. Courtesy of the Library of the Botanical Garden at the University of Padua

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National Edition
of the works and correspondence of Giovanni Battista Amici

Established by Ministerial Decree on 7 February 2003

Promoting bodies
Estense Library of Modena
Scuola Normale Superiore of Pisa

Honorary chair
Prof. Margherita Hack

President
Prof. Giorgio Dragoni

Head and curator
Dr. Alberto Meschiari

Scientific committee
Mrs Giovanna Amici Grossi, descendent of Giovanni Battista Amici, Florence
Prof. Fabio Bevilacqua, Physics Department “A. Volta” of Pavia University
Prof. Emilio Borchi, Department of Energetics, University of Florence, and Director of the Ximeniano Observatory
Dr. Paolo Brenni, CNR, Science and Technology Foundation of Florence, President of the Scientific Instrument Commission and the Scientific Instrument Society
Prof. Giorgio Dragoni, Physics Department and Physics Museum of Bologna University
Prof. Paolo Galluzzi, Director of the Institute and Museum of the History of Science, Florence
Prof. Fabio Garbari, Director of the Department of Botanical Sciences, University of Pisa
Prof. Margherita Hack, Department of Astronomy, University of Trieste
Dr. Gustavo Merico, Medical doctor and microscopist, Darfo Boario Terme (BS)
Dr. Alberto Meschiari, Scuola Normale Superiore of Pisa
Prof. Edoardo Proverbio, Astronomical Observatory of Brera, Milan
Prof. Laura Ronchi Abbozzo, “Giorgio Ronchi Foundation”, Florence
Prof. Edvige Schettino, Department of Physical Sciences, University of Naples
Prof. Pasquale Tucci, Institute of General Applied Physics, University of Milan, and Chairman of the Italian Society of the Historians of Physics and Astronomy

The project

The primary aim of the project of the National Edition is to draw together the scientific papers, correspondence and working notes of Giovanni Battista Amici into a single corpus. Because he was an instrument maker, photographic documentation of the instruments he built is a particularly important aspect.

The project has been made possible by several factors. Amici kept his papers with great care, and in the majority of cases made copies of the letters that he wrote to his correspondents. Amici’s heirs were equally meticulous, sorting the papers and donating them to the Estense Library of Modena, where the “Fondo Amici” was established in 1926.

A significant selection of the instruments produced in his workshop are kept in Florence at the Institute and Museum of the History of Science, the Science and Technology Foundation and the Military Geographic Institute (I.G.M.).

Programme of the National Edition

The editorial programme of the National Edition comprises:

  • vol. I, Edited scientific papers (Bibliopolis, Naples 2006)
  • vol. II, Unpublished documents
  • vols. III-V, Correspondence
    • Edizione Nazionale delle Opere e della Corrispondenza di Giovanni Battista Amici, vol. III, Corrispondenza, Tomo I, Corrispondenti francesi, Fondazione Giorgio Ronchi, Firenze 2010, pp. 504;
    • Edizione Nazionale delle Opere e della Corrispondenza di Giovanni Battista Amici, vol. III, Corrispondenza, Tomo II, Corrispondenti americani, inglesi, irlandesi, Fondazione Giorgio Ronchi, Firenze 2012, pp. 470.
  • Volume VI The Scientific Instruments of Giovanni Battista Amici and Portraits - Photographic Atlas, Fondazione Giorgio Ronchi, Firenze 2017, pp. 236.

Website

 This website was created as a support for the National Edition and was hosted by the Scuola Normale Superiore of Pisa. From 2018 it is hosted by the National Institute of Astrophysics