Niccolò Zucchi
Italian Jesuit, astronomer, and physicist / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Niccolò Zucchi (Italian pronunciation: [nikkoˈlɔ dˈdzukki, - tˈtsukki]; December 6, 1586 – May 21, 1670) was an Italian Jesuit, astronomer, and physicist.
Niccolò Zucchi | |
---|---|
Born | December 6, 1586 |
Died | May 21, 1670 (1670-05-22) (aged 83) |
Nationality | Italian |
Known for | physics, astronomy, reflecting telescope |
Scientific career | |
Fields | Astronomy |
As an astronomer he may have been the first to see the belts on the planet Jupiter (on May 17, 1630),[1] and reported spots on Mars in 1640.
His "Optica philosophia experimentis et ratione a fundamentis constituta", published in 1652–56, described his 1616 experiments using a curved mirror instead of a lens as a telescope objective, which may be the earliest known description of a reflecting telescope. In his book he also demonstrated that phosphors generate rather than store light. He also published two other works on mechanics and machines.