DE MARCHI L

ITALY (see also List of Individuals)

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16.5.1857 Milano/I - 15.2.1936 Padova/I

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Luigi De Marchi graduated in mathematics and physics from Pavia University in 1880 and stayed for the following decades director of the University libraries in Roma and Pavia. He was appointed in 1902 professor of physical geography and institute director at University of Padua and stayed there until retirement in 1932. He was from 1910 to 1914 president of the Italian group of the International Commission for Scientific Research of the Adriatic Sea, president of the International Commission of Climatic Variations from 1928, from 1928 to 1931 president of the Comitato Italiano Geodetico e Geofisico of the National Council, and from 1931 vice president of Reale Accademia di Scienze, Lettere ed Arti of Padua, among other positions. These activities shed light on the organizational talents of a great personality, whose son was Giulio (1890-1972), the greatest Italian hydraulician of the 20th century.

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De Marchi's work was directed toward the progress of geography and geophysics, and to the historical variation of the climate, to the causes of the climatic changes during the Ice-age, to the origins of tides and to marine and coastal currents. De Marchi's interest was the Adriatic Sea in general, and its impact to the Venice Lagoon in particular. He presented mathematical studies on the flood propagation in coastal waters. De Marchi and particularly his son Giulio considered questions relating to hydrography. Whereas the father took interest in the Colli Euganei region close to Padua, his son investigated the Po plain in general before turning his attention to problems in hydraulics. De Marchi finally was also in the committee that investigated the tragic accident following the 1924 failure of Gleno Dam in Northern Italy causing a significant number of fatalities.

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_{Castiglioni, B. (1937). L'opera scientifica di Luigi De Marchi. Padova. De Marchi, L. (1890). Climatologia. Hoepli: Milano.}

_{De Marchi, L. (1902). Note di meteorologia matematica. Rendiconti Reale Istituto Lombardo di Scienze e Lettere Serie 2 35: 255-273; 35: 354-366.}

_{De Marchi, L. (1905). La morfologia lagunare e il regime stazionario de marea. Atti del Reale Istituto Veneto di Scienze, Lettere ed Arti 64: 683-714.}

_{Gardellini, P., Luzzana Caraci, I. (1990). De Marchi, Luigi. Dizionario biografico degli italiani}

_{38: 455-458. Treccani: Roma.}

_{Piccoli, G. (1975). De Marchi, Luigi. Scienziati e tecnologi 1: 402. Mondadori: Milano. P}

_{Poggendorff, J.C. (1904). De Marchi, Luigi. Biographisch-Literarisches Handwörterbuch 4: 314-315; 5: 277; 7b: 3117-3118. Verlag Chemie: Leipzig, with bibliography.}