| Galileo telescope (122 cm) - 1 | |
of the University of Padua |
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The idea of Giovanni Silva to provide the University of Padua with a telescope, comparable for importance to the major telescopes of the epoch (In Europe, the telescope of Berlin-Babelsberg Observatory), was realized when Carlo Anti became Chancellor of the University of Padua. In 1933 the project for the larger European telescope was approved by the dictatorship of such a period. A special committee composed by Emilio Bianchi (Chairman of the Astronomical Commitee "Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche"), Giorgio Abetti (Acting Director of Arcetri Astronomical Observatory) and Giovanni Silva, considered different places for founding the mountain branch of the Padua Observatory. At the end, after a two years meteorological survey carried out by Giuseppe Crestani, the Asiago plateau was chosen for the altitude (1000 metres above sea level), the absence of light pollution, the high percentage of clear nights. The construction of the telescope started at "Officine Galileo", Florence. The design of the buildings (dome and offices) was committed to Daniele Calabi. In the following years he fled in the United States as he suffered the persecution of the fascist regime. In the United States he became an esteemed and well-known architect, but he neither was invited at the Asiago Observatory's opening cerimony, nor was mentioned in the official talks. |
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