Tiberius Cavallo

Tiberius Cavallo ( born March 30, 1749 Naples, † December 21, 1809 in London ) was an Italian physicist and natural philosopher.

Life

The son of a physician was intended for the merchant class and went in 1771 to London to collect business experience. Here he met amateur physicist who encouraged him to participate in their experiments. In the following years he showed great talent for working with instruments and was on December 9, 1779 Fellow of the Royal Society, where held until 1792 Bakerian Lectures. Based on Joseph Priestley, he represented the phlogiston theory.

Since 1775 he was enthusiastic about atmospheric electricity, Franklin experimented with kites and improved detectors, based on John Cantons electroscope of 1753. 1777 he published his most important work A Complete Treatise on Electricity in Theory and Practice with details about the design and use of his electroscopes. In 1779 he built a portable electrometer.

He also was interested in pneumatics, built improved air pumps and gas analysis instruments. In 1791 he developed with James Lind, a method to include life-size silhouettes and then decrease with a pantograph.

Works

• A Complete Treatise on Electricity. 1777
• Treatise on the Nature and Properties of Air and other permanently Elastic fluid. 1781
• History and Practice of Aerostation. 1785
• Treatise on Magnetism. 1787
• Elements of Natural and Experimental Philosophy. 1803
• Theory and Practice of Medical Electricity. 1780
• Medical Properties of Factitious Air 1798
• Theoretical and Practical Treatise of the doctrine of the magnet. 1788 ( Online)
• Treatise on the nature and properties of the air. 1783 ( Online)
• History and practice of aerostatic. 1786 ( Online)