Lorenzo Respighi

Lorenzo Respighi (* 1824 in Corte Maggiore in the province of Piacenza, † December 10, 1889 in Rome ) was an Italian astronomer.

Life

Respighi studied at the University of Parma and University of Bologna, was at the latter in 1851 professor of optics and astronomy, and in 1855 director of the observatory, in 1865 professor at the University of Rome and after Ignazio Calandrellis death (12 February 1866) his successor as director of the observatory at the Capitol, which office he held until his death.

Respighi's works relate mainly to physical astronomy, scintillation, spectra of stars and the corona, prominences of the sun, whose systematic spectroscopic observation he began in 1868, sunspots and flares; also he has first compiled from observations in the years 1875-1881 a catalog of 2,534 stars to 6th magnitude in the northern hemisphere.

The lunar crater Respighi is named after him.