SCHIAPARELLI, GIOVANNI VIRGINIO (1$35 1910), Italian astronomer and senator of the kingdom of Italy, was born on March 14, 1835, at Savigliano in Piedmont. He entered Turin university in 185o, and graduated in 1854. Two years later he went to Berlin to study astronomy under Encke, and in 1859 was appointed assistant observer at Pulkova, a post which he resigned in 186o for a similar one at Brera, Milan. On the death of Francesco Carlini (b. 1783) in 1862, Schiaparelli succeeded to the directorship, which he held until 1900. He died at Milan on July 4, 191o.
Schiaparelli possessed exceptional powers as an observer—his first discovery was of the asteroid Hesperia in 1861—and his considerable mathematical ability is shown in his papers. In 1866 he showed the connection between meteor streams and cometary orbits, giving, in particular, the identity of the orbits of the Perseids and Comet III., 1862, and of the Leonids and Comet I., 1866. These discoveries were subsequently amplified in his Le Stelle cadenti (1873) and in his Norme per le osservazioni delle stelle cadenti dei bolidi (1896). He observed double stars, and the
results of his measures are published in 2 vols., the first containing those made between 1875-85, and the second those between 1886-190o. He made extensive studies of Mercury, Venus and Mars. In 1877 he observed on Mars the peculiar markings, which he called canali, the nature and origin of which is still contro versial. (See MARS.) From his observations of Mercury and Venus he concluded that these planets rotated on their axes in the same time as they revolved about the sun. On his retirement he turned to the astronomy of the Hebrews and Babylonians; his earlier results are given in his L' Astronomia nell' antico Testa ment° (1903), which has been translated into English and German, whilst later ones are to be found in various journals, the last being in Scientia (1908).