Learning from the past: meteorology at Museo Galileo

Learning from the past: meteorology at Museo Galileo

The famed science museum, in collaboration with other institutions is creating an archive of seismological and meteorological events.

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Tue 28 Jan 2025 12:15 PM

The Museo Galileo recently hosted a presentation by the Italian Historical Documentary Hub for Seismology and Meteorology. Launched by the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology (INGV) the project aims to create a public digital archive of seismological and meteorological documents.

Museo Galileo

Italy has a long-standing tradition of scientific observation in meteorology and seismology, beginning in the 17th century with the first meteorological network in Florence and continuing in the 18th century with the earliest instruments to record earthquakes. This tradition led to the establishment of a network of observatories, both public and private, sometimes managed by religious orders such as the Barnabites, Scolopi and Jesuits. This centuries-old activity has generated a substantial body of scientific documentation.

The scientific documents, including seismic and meteorological records, bulletins, registers and correspondence are preserved by organizations such as INGV and the Council for Agricultural Research and the Analysis of Agricultural Economics (CREA). However, some of this invaluable documentation has been lost over the years.

The Historical Documentary Hub aims to prevent further loss and enhance the data we have with the aim of reconstructing historical events that are crucial for understanding the past and mitigating the present and future risks of extreme natural events.

Over the past 35 years, INGV’s Tròmos and SISMOS projects have catalogued and digitized over 200,000 historical seismograms, 25,000 letters and 100,000 pages of documents. All this material will be made accessible through an open-access database.

The first phase of the project, funded by INGV and lasting 24 months, focuses on seismological documentation, with a database structure that will later be expanded to include meteorological data.

Current project partners, in addition to INGV and Museo Galileo, include the Ximeniano Observatory Foundation in Florence and the Meteo-Seismic Observatory of the Collegio Alberoni in Piacenza. Future plans involve the participation of several other organizations with a prestigious tradition in seismology and meteorology, as well as partnerships with educational institutions for the reproduction and transcription of documents.

This project represents an important step forward in the preservation of Italy’s scientific heritage, ensuring that future generations will benefit from the legacy of Italy’s pioneers in seismology and meteorology.

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