Virgilio Trettenero (4 February 1822 – 23 May 1863) was an Italian mathematician and astronomer born inRecoaro Terme,Province of Vicenza,Italy. Active between 1848–1863,[1] his name is linked to the creation of the stellar catalogs, a work initiated byGiovanni Padovani in 1838 using themeridian circle, which he purchased.[2] The asteroid16715 Trettenero, discovered on 20 October 1995 at the San Vittore Observatory, inBologna, was named so in his honour.[3]
Son of Domenico, owner of a hotel, and Domenica Maltauro, he studied at theUniversity of Padua. In 1848 he appeared in the journalAstronomische Nachrichten connected to an article about the observations of the planetNeptune. The presence of the planet was postulated on the basis of the perturbation of the orbit ofUranus byLe Verrier and was observed for the first time only two years earlier.[4]
In 1850-1851 he was nominated assistant in the department ofphysics andgeodesy inPadua, and assistant astronomer at the Royal Observatory, under supervision of ProfessorGiovanni Santini in 1853.[2] From 1859 to 1863 he was professor of physics at the faculty ofmathematics and director of the physics department.[2] In the same period he was appointed professor of astronomy in the faculty odphilosophy.[2] He died in the city of Padua, in theVeneto, northernItaly, and was succeeded by Michez Jacopo (1839-1873).[5] His work summarizes 61 articles written in 14 years of study focused on the observation ofasteroids,comets,eclipses, the calculation of planetary orbits with respect to the action of the disturbing planets of theSolar System andephemerides.
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