Giuseppe Toaldo : la luna, il saros e le meteore / Stefano Casati.
Abstract:
The origin and evolution of scientific meteorology began and evolved with rhythms and procedures quite different from other scientific disciplines. This particularity is seen in the work of Giuseppe Toaldo, a padovan scientist of the eighteenth century. He dedicated himself to the study of the atmospheric phenomena and contributed, although in a paradoxical way, to the success of the modern meteorology. He created a network of observatories all over Italy and, in trying to verify the hypothesis of lunar influence on weather changes, he collected a large quantity of phenomenological and instrumental data. From his research program, which was mainly based on "lunaristic physics", many contradictions and peculiarities of meteorology of the eighteenth century emerge. Toaldo's attempt to demonstrate his theory, gave rise to a heated scientific debate in which the polemic with Paolo Frisi represents one of the most interesting moments
Nuncius A. 5, fasc. 1 (1990), p. 17-42