Giuseppe Toaldo

Giuseppe Toaldo was born on 11 November 1719, in Pianezza. At age fourteen, he entered the seminary of Padua, and spent much of his life in the Serenissima in which he subsequently taught mathematics and Italian literature. While connected with the seminary he edited the works of Galileo (1744), for which he wrote an appreciative preface and critical notes. In this edition, for the first time since Galileo Galilei's condemnation, it was published with ecclesiastical approval the Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems. {{cite book|first=Maurice A.|last=Finocchiaro|title=Retrying Galileo, 1633–1992|page=133|year=2007|publisher=University of California Press|isbn=9780520253872}}

In 1754, he was appointed pastor of Montegalda; and, eight years later, was called to the chair of astronomy in the University of Padua. Toaldo, like his contemporaries, Divisch and Giovanni Battista Beccaria (both priests), gave special attention to the study of atmospheric electricity and to the means of protecting buildings against lightning. He advocated the erection of lightning rods, adopting the views of Benjamin Franklin on their preventive and protective action, rather than those of the French school led by Abbé Nollet. His treatise "Della maniera di difendere gli edificii dal fulmine" (1772) and his pamphlet "Dei conduttori metallici a preservazione degli edifici dal fulmine" (1774) contributed largely to remove the popular prejudices of the time against the use of the "Franklinian rod"; and through his exertions lightning-conductors were placed on Siena Cathedral, on the tower of St. Mark's, Venice, on powder magazines, and ships of the Venetian navy.

Toaldo became especially famous in Europe for his weather prediction theories.{{Cite journal |last=Dolet |first=Simon |date=2022-06-30 |title=L'astrologie saine de Giuseppe Toaldo et les séismes, clés de la prédiction des changements climatiques ? |url=https://www.cairn.info/revue-dix-huitieme-siecle-2022-1-page-49.htm?ref=doi |journal=Dix-huitième siècle |volume=54 |issue=1 |pages=49–62 |doi=10.3917/dhs.054.0049 |issn=0070-6760}}{{Cite journal |last1=Domínguez-Castro |first1=Fernando |last2=Vaquero |first2=José Manuel |last3=Bertolin |first3=Chiara |last4=Gallego |first4=María Cruz |last5=De la Guía |first5=Cristina |last6=Camuffo |first6=Dario |date=2016 |title=Aurorae observed by Giuseppe Toaldo in Padua (1766–1797) |url=http://www.swsc-journal.org/10.1051/swsc/2016016 |journal=Journal of Space Weather and Space Climate |volume=6 |pages=A21 |doi=10.1051/swsc/2016016 |bibcode=2016JSWSC...6A..21D |issn=2115-7251|hdl=10662/7456 |hdl-access=free }} He noticed that after 9 years, and then 18 years, meteorological phenomena returned in the same order.{{Cite journal |last=Sheynin |first=O. B. |date=1984 |title=On the history of the statistical method in meteorology |url=http://link.springer.com/10.1007/BF00330243 |journal=Archive for History of Exact Sciences |language=en |volume=31 |issue=1 |pages=53–95 |doi=10.1007/BF00330243 |issn=0003-9519|url-access=subscription }}{{cite journal |author=Toaldo, J. |year=1777 |title=Essai de metéorologie etc. |journal=Journal de Physique |volume=10 |pages=249-279, 333-367}}{{cite book |url=https://www.digitale-sammlungen.de/en/details/bsb10299293 |title=Witterungslehre für den Feldbau |year=1777 |place=Berlin}}{{cite journal |author=Toaldo, J. |year=1782 |title=Le saros meteorologique. |journal=Journal de Physique, Supplément |volume=21 |pages=176–189}}

He also organised a meteorological network in the Republic of Venice.{{ Cite journal |last=Dolet |first=Simon |title=Le pouvoir de l’amitié pour saisir un phénomène « météorologique » exceptionnel. Informateurs et observateurs des globes de feu de 1676 et 1784| url=https://shs.cairn.info/revue-dix-huitieme-siecle-2023-1-page-385?lang=fr&ref=doi| journal=Dix-huitième siècle |volume=55|issue=1 |pages=385–402|date=2023-05-26| doi=10.3917/dhs.055.0385| issn=0070-6760}} His call for collaboration circulated above all through his almanac: the Giornale astro-meteorologico, which appeared for the first time in 1773 and continued long after his death. He was able to bring together more than thirty observers, including a noblewoman from Sacile, Angela Borgo.{{ Cite journal |last=Dolet |first=Simon | date=2023|title=La météorologie, un nouvel accès à la médecine pour les femmes ?| url=https://journals.openedition.org/italies/11584|journal=Italies|volume=27|pages=5–48| doi=10.4000/12a47| issn=1275-7519 |doi-access=free}}

Toaldo was a member of many of the learned bodies of Europe, notably of the Royal Society, London. The asteroid 23685 Toaldo is named for him.

File:Toaldo, Giuseppe – Schediasmata astronomica, 1791 – BEIC 4731397.jpg

• {{Cite book|title=Della maniera di preservare gli edifici dal fulmine|volume=|publisher=|location=Venezia|year=1772|language=it|url=https://gutenberg.beic.it/webclient/DeliveryManager?pid=11359651}}
• {{Cite book|title=Novae tabulae barometri aestusque maris|volume=|publisher=Tipografia del Seminario|location=Padova|year=1773|language=la|url=https://gutenberg.beic.it/webclient/DeliveryManager?pid=12825509}}
• {{Cite book|title=Del conduttore elettrico posto nel campanile di S. Marco in Venezia|volume=|publisher=Giovanni Antonio Pinelli, figli|location=Venezia|year=1776|language=it|url=https://gutenberg.beic.it/webclient/DeliveryManager?pid=4615705}}
• {{Cite book|title=Saggi di studi veneti|volume=|publisher=Gasparo Storti (2.)|location=Venezia|year=1782|language=it|url=https://gutenberg.beic.it/webclient/DeliveryManager?pid=11359846}}
• {{Cite book|title=Tavole di vitalità|volume=|publisher=Giovanni Antonio Conzatti|location=Padova|year=1787|language=it|url=https://gutenberg.beic.it/webclient/DeliveryManager?pid=12857024}}

• List of Roman Catholic cleric–scientists

• {{CE1913|wstitle=Giuseppe Toaldo}}
• {{DBI |title= TOALDO, Giuseppe |url=https://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/giuseppe-toaldo_(Dizionario-Biografico)|last= Ampollini|first= Ilaria|volume= 95}}
• {{Cite journal |first=Ilaria |last=Ampollini |title=Celestial globes and popular astronomy. Giuseppe Toaldo traslator of Jérôme Lalande |journal=Nuncius |volume=XXXIV |year=2019 |issue=1 |pages=69–98 |doi=10.1163/18253911-03401003}}

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Category:1719 births

Category:1797 deaths

Category:People from the Province of Vicenza

Category:Italian meteorologists

Category:18th-century Italian physicists

Category:Catholic clergy scientists

Category:Fellows of the Royal Society

Category:Academic staff of the University of Padua