History of physics

The group deals with the history of physics starting from the Scientific Revolution, that is, from the cultural turning point that marked the birth of modern science. The group thus studies the historical period from the 16th to the 20th century. Research activities in the history of physics are tightly related to the history of scientific instrumentation and have a concrete point of intersection in the study, preservation and valorization of the scientific heritage kept at the Giovanni Poleni Museum and in other collections of scientific instruments and machines of the University of Padua.

Staff

Full Professors: Giulio Peruzzi
Technical staff: Fanny Marcon, Sofia Talas (museum curators)

Post-doc

Monica Zagallo.

PhD students

Lorenzo Voltolina

External collaborators

Giulia Nicchio, Matteo Realdi

Research activities

  Research activities in history of physics and scientific instrumentation from XVI to XX century

The main topics covered by specific research are:

  1. Galileo’s work in the context of Scientific Revolution;
  2. from pneumatics to electricity: researches on the development of physics from the seventeenth to the nineteenth century, based on the instruments of the Giovanni Poleni Museum;
  3. the diffusion of experimental physics and cabinets of physics in eighteenth-century Europe;
  4. James Clerk-Maxwell’s work and its developments;
  5. celestial mechanics, geophysics, astrophysics and cosmology between the nineteenth and twentieth century: an example of cross-fertilization of science;
  6. the birth and development of relativity theories and of the Standard Model of the Universe;
  7. conceptual developments of quantum mechanics: from the origins to the Standard Model of particles;
  8. the laboratory of experimental physics: birth and development from the eighteenth century to Big Science;
  9. observing and experimenting: researches on the method of modern science from Galileo to the twentieth century;
  10. the circulation of scientific knowledge and the connections between universities, schools and the territory between the nineteenth and twentieth century;
  11. the history of nuclear and sub-nuclear physics in Padua from cosmic-ray researches to the birth of Legnaro National Laboratories;
  12. questions of philosophy of physics;
  13. the diffusion of physics and its applications though the promotion of the museum heritage kept at the Department of Physics and Astronomy of Padua.

The preservation of archives and oral testimonies, the preservation of instruments and their related documentation, the development of innovative museums, and the setting up of a data-base to integrate different data-bases existing in the University and the territory, are all objectives connected to these researches. They are fundamental elements not only to avoid the loss of an important heritage of history and culture, but also to redesign the didactics and communication of physics (and science in general), and to provide these researches with a new stimulus.
The members of the Group are active in various National or International societies: Società Italiana di Fisica (SIF), Società Italiana degli Storici della Fisica e dell’Astronomia (SISFA), Società Italiana di Logica e Filosofia della Scienza (SILFS), Board member of the History of Physics Group of the European Physical Society, Universeum - European Academic Heritage Network (Sofia Talas has been President from 2010 to 2017), International Council of Museums (ICOM), University Museums and Collections Committee of ICOM (UMAC), Scientific Instrument Commission of the International Union for the History and Philosophy of Science (SIC).
Contacts: Giulio Peruzzi, Sofia Talas, Fanny Marcon