Name: XLVI National Congress of the Italian Society for the History of Physics and Astronomy
Start: 2026-09-15T09:00:00+02:00
End: 2026-09-18T17:00:00+02:00
Location: Naples

Monday, 14 September 2026
Tuesday, 15 September 2026

09:00 Registration

09:00 - 09:15
Room: Auditorium Ernesto Capocci

09:15 Congress opening

09:15 - 09:30
Room: Auditorium Ernesto Capocci
09:30 Keynote Speech
09:30 - 10:10
Room: Auditorium Ernesto Capocci
Contributions

09:30 Revisiting the Long History of Quantum Theory - Renn, Jürgen (Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology)
10:10 Physics and Physicists of the Twentieth Century in Naples
10:10 - 10:50
Room: Auditorium Ernesto Capocci
Contributions

10:10 Correlation and Connectivity in Complex Systems - Coniglio, Antonio (Università di Napoli "Federico II" Dipartimento di Fisica "Ettore Pancini")
10:50 Coffe break
Coffe break
10:50 - 11:20
Room: Columns Hall
11:20 Physics and Physicists of the Twentieth Century in Naples
11:20 - 13:30
Room: Auditorium Ernesto Capocci
Contributions

11:20 Fifty Years of Naples at CERN, 1976-2016 - Lista, Luca (INFN-Napoli)

12:00 The Former Physics Pavilions of the Mostra d'Oltremare and the Roots of the Neapolitan Schools of Physics - La Rana, Giovanni (INFN-Naples)

12:40 The Origins of Contemporary Artificial Intelligence between Statistical and Cybernetic Physics - Gagliardi, Francesco

13:05 The Life and Science of Vittorio Silvestrini. His Legacy for Future Generations - Cioci, Vincenzo (Liceo scientifico "F. Sbordone" di Napoli - Sezione di Napoli dell'Associazione per l'Insegnamento della Fisica ETS)
13:30 Lunch
Lunch
13:30 - 14:30
Room: Columns Hall
14:30 History of Astronomy and Physics
14:30 - 15:45
Room: Piazzi Hall
Contributions

14:30 Copernicus in Padua: Portrait of Astronomer with Figures - Gandolfi, Giangiacomo (Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica (INAF))

14:55 The Debate on Cometary (Non-)Prognostication between Paolo Bravi and Livio Ignazio Conti (1664–1666) - Cosci, Matteo (University Ca' Foscari Venice)

15:20 Luca Pellicciari: from Natural Philosophy to Experimental Physics, the Experimental Physics Theatre at the University of Perugia - Sanchini, Giampaolo
History of Physics in 20th Century
14:30 - 15:45
Room: Auditorium Ernesto Capocci
Contributions

14:30 The special-relativistic theory of gravitation by Henri Poincaré and Alfred North Whitehead - Giannetto, Enrico (Università di Bergamo)

14:55 Between science outreach and political activism: Bari and its publishing houses in the second half of the twentieth century with a case study: Edizioni Dedalo - Romano, Luigi (Università degli Studi di Bari)

15:20 Beyond the Optical Sky: Serendipity, Exaptation, and the Violent Universe (1950-1970) - Furlan, Stefano (Universiteit Utrecht)
15:45 Coffee Break
Coffee Break
15:45 - 16:15
Room: Columns Hall
16:15 History of Astronomy and Physics
16:15 - 17:30
Room: Piazzi Hall
Contributions

16:15 Geodesy and Earth sciences over a long 19th century - Schiavon, Martina (Observatoire de Paris-PSL (LTE))

16:40 Scientific Heritage and Digital Humanities: the Polo Documentario Storico Italiano della Sismologia e Meteorologia Project - Ferrari, Graziano (Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia)

17:05 An Astronomer in the Himalayas: Maps, Charts, and Scientific Instruments on the Roof of the World: a Project to Preserve and Promote Archival Collections - Brunetti, Francesca (Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica (INAF))
History of Physics in 20th Century
16:15 - 17:30
Room: Auditorium Ernesto Capocci
Contributions

16:15 The Ising Model: 100 Years of Connections Between Physics and Complexity - Spairani, Luisa

16:40 From Small Experiments to "Battleship" Research: The Nobel Case of Emilio Segrè. - Buccilli, Bianca (Cref)

17:05 Experimental confirmation of γ–γ scattering and implications of Quantum Field Coherence Theory, with the emergence of Giant Resonances in heavy-ion collisions. - Mileto, Graziano (ISTITUTO DI ISTRUZIONE SUPERIORE "FRANCESCO SEVERI")
17:30 Visit: MuSA
MuSA
17:30 - 18:30
Room: MuSA
Wednesday, 16 September 2026
09:15 Museums and Scientific Collections of Physics and Astronomy in Italy and World- wide
09:15 - 10:45
Room: Auditorium Ernesto Capocci
Contributions

09:15 Keeping Precise Time: The Charles Frodsham Regulators in Italian Observatories - Stenning, Richard (Charles Frodsham & Co. Ltd.)

09:55 Brass, Glass, and Measurement: Carlo Dell’Acqua and the Making of an Italian Manufactory for Precision Scientific Instruments, 1828–1870 - Mantovani, Roberto (University of Urbino Carlo Bo)

10:20 From Lighthouse Beams to Moonlight: Fresnel Lenses Between Technology and Science in the Bourbon Kingdom - Del Monte, Rosanna (Museo di Fisica Università di Napoli Federico II)
10:45 Coffee Break
Coffee Break
10:45 - 11:15
Room: Columns Hall
11:15 History of Astronomy and Physics
11:15 - 12:55
Room: Piazzi Hall
Contributions

11:15 The Former S-RPIF Archive at INAF/IAPS: Preserving the Historical and Cartographic Legacy of Early Planetary Exploration - Frigeri, Alessandro (Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica (INAF))

11:40 A carefully considered choice - Malagoli, Luca (Centro di Ricerca Enrico Fermi)

12:05 The Twentieth-Century Modernisation of the Bologna Observatory - Rossi, Elisabetta (Università di Bologna)
Museums and Scientific Collections of Physics and Astronomy in Italy and World- wide
11:15 - 12:55
Room: Auditorium Ernesto Capocci
Contributions

11:15 Gli astrolabi del Museo della Certosa di San Martino a Napoli - Marra, Ornella (Independent scholar) Truffa, Giancarlo (Member of SISFA)

11:40 The origins of the facsimile, a history of fixed-image trasmission - Casi, Fausto (SISFA)

12:05 The Historical and Educational Pathway of the Museum of Electrical Technology in Pavia - Battocchio, Andrea (Università degli Studi di Pavia)

12:30 L’emisfero celeste di Eufrosino Della Volpaia (1530) - Truffa, Giancarlo (Member of SISFA)
12:55 Lunch
Lunch
12:55 - 14:00
Room: Columns Hall
14:00 The Historical and Scientific Legacy of Giuseppe Piazzi
14:00 - 15:55
Room: Auditorium Ernesto Capocci
Contributions

14:00 Giuseppe Piazzi: a brief biographical and scientific profile - Chinnici, Ileana (Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica (INAF))

14:40 The Memory of Giuseppe Piazzi: Astronomer, Scientist, and Academic between Sicily and Naples - Russo, Guido (Università degli studi di Napoli Federico II)

15:05 From Foundation to First Light (1791-1819): Giuseppe Piazzi and the Making of the Naples Observatory - Gargano, Mauro (Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica (INAF))

15:30 A study of 19th-Century Stellar Catalogues to improvement of modern astrometric data - Di Giacomo, Federico (Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica (INAF))
14:20 Dialogue Between History, Education, and Public Outreach in Physics and Astronom
14:20 - 15:55
Room: Piazzi Hall
Contributions

14:40 Poche lettere, indiritte ad una Dama filosofante. Giuseppe Corigliano's Philosophical Letters, plurality of worlds and popular astronomy in eighteenth-century Naples - De Piccoli, Lorenzo (Università di Pisa - Università degli Studi di Firenze)

15:05 The Physics Instrument Collection of the Liceo Classico Parini in Milan during Giuseppe Belli’s Teaching Years (1820–1840) - Traversini, Renzo (ricercatore indipendente)

15:30 A Quarter Century of the SISMOS Project: Recovery and Enhancement of Historical Seismographic Data - Maresci, Monia (Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia - INGV)
15:55 Coffee Break
Coffee Break
15:55 - 16:25
Room: Columns Hall
16:25 The Historical and Scientific Legacy of Giuseppe Piazzi
16:25 - 17:30
Room: Auditorium Ernesto Capocci
Contributions

16:25 Giovanni Virginio Schiaparelli (1835–1910): An Astronomer despite Himself? - Tucci, Pasquale (Retired, Università degli Studi di Milano)

17:05 Celebrating the Astronomer Giovanni Battista Donati on the Bicentenary of His Birth - Bianchi, Simone (Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica (INAF))
17:30 Sisfa General Assembly

17:30 - 19:30
Room: Auditorium Ernesto Capocci

20:30 Social Dinner

20:30 - 22:30
Room: Regina Margherita
Thursday, 17 September 2026
09:15 History of Physics in 20th Century
09:15 - 10:45
Room: Ex-Jesuit Refectory
Contributions

09:15 A Schrödinger equation without Schrödinger? - Darrigol, Olivier (CNRS-Université Denis Diderot)

09:55 Italian Competitions for Physics Chairs from 1902 to 1942 - Rossi, Paolo (Dipartimento di Fisica Università di Pisa)

10:20 From Via Panisperna to Como: Fermi, Persico, Pontremoli and the International Congress of Physicists (1927) - Leone, Matteo (University of Turin)
10:45 Coffe Break
Coffe Break
10:45 - 11:15
11:15 History of Physics in 20th Century
11:15 - 12:55
Room: Ex-Jesuit Refectory
Contributions

11:15 The Path to the Neutron: From Rutherford’s Hypothesis to Chadwick’s Discovery - Pagano, Emanuele Vincenzo (INFN - LNS)

11:40 The hydrodynamic electromagnetism of the Norwegian Bjerknes family -- A neglected but revaluable research program - Scalera, Giancarlo (INGV, Rome)

12:05 Feynman-Wheeler absorber theory and cosmology - Naddeo, Adele (INFN, Sezione di Napoli)

12:30 Einstein’s KosmoLogik (1917) - Afriat, Alexander (Université de Bretagne Occidentale)
Museums and Scientific Collections of Physics and Astronomy in Italy and World- wide
11:15 - 12:55
Room: New Hall
Contributions

11:15 Clement Ader's Théâtrophone: a technological marvel. - Franchini, Laura (Associazione Amici di Città della Scienza)

11:40 Electric Time in Naples: Public Clocks Between Precision and Urban Modernity in the 19th Century - Montenigro, Francesco (University of Naples Federico II)

12:05 Two electroscopes, a magnetic needle, and a barometer: Luigi Palmieri and the 1851 Melfi earthquake - Cerreta, Pietro (Associazione ScienzaViva, Calitri)

12:30 Behind the scenes of the Musée Curie: an insider view on science communication and dissemination in a history-of-physics museum - Verduci, Domenica (Museo Storico della Fisica e Centro Studi e Ricerche 'Enrico Fermi' - Università di Bologna)
12:55 Lunch
Lunch
12:55 - 14:00
14:00 Dialogue Between History, Education, and Public Outreach in Physics and Astronom
14:00 - 15:55
Room: Ex-Jesuit Refectory
Contributions

14:00 Astronomy as a Meeting Point of Knowledge. Astro Sardegna: A Residential Training Program for Teachers and Students - Floris, Fabrizio (MIM, Ufficio scolastico provinciale di Oristano)

14:40 Attraverso le equazioni: studenti di fisica alla ricerca di significato - Giliberti, Marco (Università degli studi di Milano)

15:05 Photon-tology: Everybody Uses It, No One Knows What It Is - Longo, Francesco

15:30 Piccoli passi nella scienza. Il Museo Enrico Fermi per la scuola primaria - Cecchini, Stefano (Museo Storico della Fisica e Centro Studi e Ricerche Enrico Fermi)
14:40 History of Astronomy and Physics
14:40 - 15:55
Room: New Hall
Contributions

14:40 Vincenzo Galilei and the empirical law on vibrating strings - Capecchi, Danilo (Sisfa)

15:05 On Hamilton’s View and Use of Finite Differentials - Amabile, Alessandro (Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II)

15:30 Productive Errors and Serendipitous Events: How Anomalies, Dead Ends, and 'Failed' Experiments Drive Scientific Discovery in Physics and Astronomy - Costa, Matteo (Università Sapienza di Roma)
15:55 Coffee Break
Coffee Break
15:55 - 16:25
16:25 Dialogue Between History, Education, and Public Outreach in Physics and Astronom
16:25 - 17:40
Room: Ex-Jesuit Refectory
Contributions

16:25 Building Time: An Educational Workshop on the Shepherd’s Dial between the History of Astronomy and Citizen Science - Vischio, Fabio (Associazione Scientifica Come Scienza - IPCF CNR Bari)

16:50 The Historical Museum of Physics Education of the G. Bruno – R. Franchetti High School in Venice-Mestre - Minosso, Francesco (AIF Associazione per l'Insegnamento della Fisica)

17:15 Engaging for Scientific Heritage: Teaching Experiences in Secondary Education through Historical Instruments, Museums, and Science Education - Rocca, Luca (Università di Pisa)
History of Astronomy and Physics
16:25 - 17:40
Room: New Hall
Contributions

16:25 History of the Mathematical Techniques of Conservation Laws in Classical Theoretical Mechanics - Drago, Antonino (Dept. Physical Sciences, University Federico II Naples)

16:50 Conceptual Pathways to Entropic Gravity: A Computational Semantic Approach - Gasco, Enrico (Zirak)

17:15 SETIAI (SETI + AI) – Civiltà tecnologiche distribuite e l'equazione di Drake - Adamo, Angelo (Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica (INAF))
17:40 Dialogue Between History, Education, and Public Outreach in Physics and Astronom: Discussion
Discussion
17:40 - 18:20
Room: Ex-Jesuit Refectory

18:20 Visit: Museum of Physics
Museum of Physics
18:20 - 19:20
Friday, 18 September 2026
09:30 The Development of Meteorology and Volcanology
09:30 - 10:50
Room: Palmieri Hall
Contributions

09:30 A historical perspective on bradyseism at Campi Flegrei caldera - Pappalardo, Lucia (INGV-Osservatorio Vesuviano)

10:10 Climate through the lens of the historical built environment: bridging early meteorological observations with microclimatic analysis at Santa Maria degli Angeli, Florence (1654–1670) - Bertolin, Chiara (Norwegian University of Science and Technology)
10:50 Coffee Break
Coffee Break
10:50 - 11:20
11:20 The Development of Meteorology and Volcanology
11:20 - 12:35
Room: Palmieri Hall
Contributions

11:20 Atlas of Aetna (1845–61) by W. Sartorius von Waltershausen: The Birth of Modern Volcanological Cartography - Branca, Stefano (Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia)

11:45 The market of meteorological instruments in southern Italy between the 18th and 19th centuries - De Frenza, Lucia (SISFA)

12:10 After the Casamicciola earthquakes (1881 and 1883): institutionalization and communication of geodynamics - Mandolesi, Alessia (INGV - Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia)
12:35 Closing Remarks

12:35 - 13:00
Room: Palmieri Hall

13:00 Lunch
Lunch
13:00 - 14:00

14:00 Visit: Vesuvius Museum
Vesuvius Museum
14:00 - 15:00

15:00 Excursion to the Vesuvius Crater

15:00 - 17:00