Olinto De Pretto
Encyclopedia
Olinto De Pretto was an Italian
industrialist, physicist
and geologist
from Schio
, Vicenza
. He is credited with being the first person to derive the precise formula E=mc2 and is also the first to conclude that radioactive decay of uranium
and thorium
was an example of energy transformation from mass into energy
in northern Italy
. Olinto was the sixth of seven children (three boys, four girls). His mother was Angelica Boschetti (1822–1905). His father, Pietro De Pretto (1810–1891), was an architect
whose hobbies included astronomy
and geology
, two studies Olinto would later take up.
He attended the Superior School of Agriculture in Milano where he studied agriculture
and geology
with a major in Agronomics. He graduated in 1879 with a degree in Agronomics. Immediately upon graduation he became a university assistant to Professor Gaetano Cantoni, a Dean
of the agricultural school. Together they developed methods that helped modernize Italian agriculture by improving methods of crop rotation and analyzing soil chemistry.http://www.itastreviglio.it/storiaInglese.php
When Cantoni died in 1887, Olinto left the university and became a director at a mechanical foundry mill owned by his older brother Silvio, where he worked for the rest of his life.http://www.cartesio-episteme.net/fis/depret-bombay.htm
In 1898, his paper titled "Glacial Epoch and Orografical Theory" was published in the Bulletin of the Italian Alpine Club.
In 1899, he published "Geological Signs in the Surroundings of Schio".
and its relationship to astronomy. He focused on the theory of aether
, a hypothetical substance at that time believed to fill all space.
As a result of his research on November 29, 1903 De Pretto published a 62-page paper in the Atti del Reale Istituto Veneto di Scienze, Lettere ed Arti, vol LXIII (Procedings of the Royal Veneto Institute of Science, Letters and Arts) entitled "Ipotesi dell'Etere nella Vita dell'Universo" ("Hypothesis of Aether
in the Life of the Universe"). The paper was endorsed by the famous astronomer Giovanni Schiaparelli
. De Pretto's paper was later included in the proceedings of an Italian scientific institute The Royal Veneto Institute of Science.
This theory was similar to Samuel Tolver Preston
's 1875 hypothesis that matter and energy might be interchangeable. De Pretto's theory was based on his hypothesis
that a mass traveling at velocity v has the potential energy
(forza viva) proportional to mv2 (the exact formula is ½mv2). In the section of his paper headed Energy of the Ether and Potential Energy in Matter, De Pretto wrote:
By theorizing "vibration of the ether", De Pretto asserted that mass is vibrating energy and that mass and energy are therefore interchangeable. He then speculated that ordinary matter may be considered to be vibrating at the speed of light
c. According to De Pretto,
for the "vis viva
" and the energy store within matter, where he identified v with the speed of light. His formula is apparently in agreement with Albert Einstein
's formula
for Mass-energy equivalence
, which was derived by Einstein as a consequence of special relativity
.
However, Umberto Bartocci (professor of mathematics and a critic of relativity theory) speculated about a possible influence of De Pretto on Einstein. On the other hand, Ignazio Marchioro argued, that there is no connection, since the theory of De Pretto was based on the aether (a superseded theory not present in special relativity), and also that De Pretto's formula is only a variation of the kinetic energy formula. While Bartocci agrees that De Pretto's theory is not connected with relativity, he is still of the opinion that his thoughts on the energy reservoir within matter could have influenced Einstein.
of uranium and thorium and was the first to conclude that this decay was energy transformation from mass into energy. He also presented a hypothesis that the intense heat assumed to be in the center of the Earth
(theory of central fire) was caused by the tremendous mass of the earth creating a massive radioactive core giving off heat and energy.
, a scientific organization whose members included Galileo Galilei
. The director of the organization, Ernesto Mancini, was also a member of The Royal Society of London, an international scientific society. Mancini submitted De Pretto's paper to the Royal Society for international recognition. It was received favorably and was listed in the Society's "International Catalogue of Scientific Literature".
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
industrialist, physicist
Physics
Physics is a natural science that involves the study of matter and its motion through spacetime, along with related concepts such as energy and force. More broadly, it is the general analysis of nature, conducted in order to understand how the universe behaves.Physics is one of the oldest academic...
and geologist
Geology
Geology is the science comprising the study of solid Earth, the rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which it evolves. Geology gives insight into the history of the Earth, as it provides the primary evidence for plate tectonics, the evolutionary history of life, and past climates...
from Schio
Schio
Schio is a town and comune in the province of Vicenza situated North of Vicenza and East of the Lake of Garda. It is surrounded by the Little Dolomites and Mount Pasubio.-History:...
, Vicenza
Vicenza
Vicenza , a city in north-eastern Italy, is the capital of the eponymous province in the Veneto region, at the northern base of the Monte Berico, straddling the Bacchiglione...
. He is credited with being the first person to derive the precise formula E=mc2 and is also the first to conclude that radioactive decay of uranium
Uranium
Uranium is a silvery-white metallic chemical element in the actinide series of the periodic table, with atomic number 92. It is assigned the chemical symbol U. A uranium atom has 92 protons and 92 electrons, of which 6 are valence electrons...
and thorium
Thorium
Thorium is a natural radioactive chemical element with the symbol Th and atomic number 90. It was discovered in 1828 and named after Thor, the Norse god of thunder....
was an example of energy transformation from mass into energy
Early life
Olinto De Pretto was born on April 26, 1857 in Schio in the province of VicenzaVicenza
Vicenza , a city in north-eastern Italy, is the capital of the eponymous province in the Veneto region, at the northern base of the Monte Berico, straddling the Bacchiglione...
in northern Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
. Olinto was the sixth of seven children (three boys, four girls). His mother was Angelica Boschetti (1822–1905). His father, Pietro De Pretto (1810–1891), was an architect
Architect
An architect is a person trained in the planning, design and oversight of the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to offer or render services in connection with the design and construction of a building, or group of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the...
whose hobbies included astronomy
Astronomy
Astronomy is a natural science that deals with the study of celestial objects and phenomena that originate outside the atmosphere of Earth...
and geology
Geology
Geology is the science comprising the study of solid Earth, the rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which it evolves. Geology gives insight into the history of the Earth, as it provides the primary evidence for plate tectonics, the evolutionary history of life, and past climates...
, two studies Olinto would later take up.
He attended the Superior School of Agriculture in Milano where he studied agriculture
Agriculture
Agriculture is the cultivation of animals, plants, fungi and other life forms for food, fiber, and other products used to sustain life. Agriculture was the key implement in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that nurtured the...
and geology
Geology
Geology is the science comprising the study of solid Earth, the rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which it evolves. Geology gives insight into the history of the Earth, as it provides the primary evidence for plate tectonics, the evolutionary history of life, and past climates...
with a major in Agronomics. He graduated in 1879 with a degree in Agronomics. Immediately upon graduation he became a university assistant to Professor Gaetano Cantoni, a Dean
Dean (education)
In academic administration, a dean is a person with significant authority over a specific academic unit, or over a specific area of concern, or both...
of the agricultural school. Together they developed methods that helped modernize Italian agriculture by improving methods of crop rotation and analyzing soil chemistry.http://www.itastreviglio.it/storiaInglese.php
When Cantoni died in 1887, Olinto left the university and became a director at a mechanical foundry mill owned by his older brother Silvio, where he worked for the rest of his life.http://www.cartesio-episteme.net/fis/depret-bombay.htm
Early Scientific Research and Papers
In 1888, as a result of his research with his brother Augusto, he published his first paper, "The Influence of the Raising and the Degradation of Mountains on the Development of Glaciers". In 1892, along with his brothers Augusto and Silvio they founded the Alpinistic Circle with Silvio as the first president. In 1896 the Bulletin of the Italian Society of Geology republished his article as "The Degradation of Mountains and Its Influence on Glaciers".http://www.cartesio-episteme.net/fis/depret-bombay.htmIn 1898, his paper titled "Glacial Epoch and Orografical Theory" was published in the Bulletin of the Italian Alpine Club.
In 1899, he published "Geological Signs in the Surroundings of Schio".
Contributions to Physics and E=mc2
From 1899 to 1903 De Pretto began to study the emerging field of nuclear physicsNuclear physics
Nuclear physics is the field of physics that studies the building blocks and interactions of atomic nuclei. The most commonly known applications of nuclear physics are nuclear power generation and nuclear weapons technology, but the research has provided application in many fields, including those...
and its relationship to astronomy. He focused on the theory of aether
Aether
-Metaphysics and mythology:* Aether , the material that fills the region of the universe above the terrestrial sphere* Aether was the personification of the "upper sky", space and heaven, in Greek mythology-Science and engineering:...
, a hypothetical substance at that time believed to fill all space.
As a result of his research on November 29, 1903 De Pretto published a 62-page paper in the Atti del Reale Istituto Veneto di Scienze, Lettere ed Arti, vol LXIII (Procedings of the Royal Veneto Institute of Science, Letters and Arts) entitled "Ipotesi dell'Etere nella Vita dell'Universo" ("Hypothesis of Aether
Aether theories
Aether theories in early modern physics proposed the existence of a medium, the aether , a space-filling substance or field, thought to be necessary as a transmission medium for the propagation of electromagnetic waves...
in the Life of the Universe"). The paper was endorsed by the famous astronomer Giovanni Schiaparelli
Giovanni Schiaparelli
Giovanni Virginio Schiaparelli was an Italian astronomer and science historian. He studied at the University of Turin and Berlin Observatory. In 1859-1860 he worked in Pulkovo Observatory and then worked for over forty years at Brera Observatory...
. De Pretto's paper was later included in the proceedings of an Italian scientific institute The Royal Veneto Institute of Science.
This theory was similar to Samuel Tolver Preston
Samuel Tolver Preston
Samuel Tolver Preston was an English Engineer and physicist.His parents were Daniel Bloom Preston and Mary Susannah Tolver. Preston was educated as a Telegraph-engineer. He went to Munich where he attained his Ph.D in 1894 with Ludwig Boltzmann...
's 1875 hypothesis that matter and energy might be interchangeable. De Pretto's theory was based on his hypothesis
Hypothesis
A hypothesis is a proposed explanation for a phenomenon. The term derives from the Greek, ὑποτιθέναι – hypotithenai meaning "to put under" or "to suppose". For a hypothesis to be put forward as a scientific hypothesis, the scientific method requires that one can test it...
that a mass traveling at velocity v has the potential energy
Potential energy
In physics, potential energy is the energy stored in a body or in a system due to its position in a force field or due to its configuration. The SI unit of measure for energy and work is the Joule...
(forza viva) proportional to mv2 (the exact formula is ½mv2). In the section of his paper headed Energy of the Ether and Potential Energy in Matter, De Pretto wrote:
- Matter uses and stores energy as inertia, just like a steam engine that uses the energy in steam and stores energy in inertia as potential energy[... ] All components of a body are animated by infinitesimal but rapid movements equal to perhaps the vibration of the ether. It must be concluded that the matter in any body contains the sum of the energy represented by the entire mass of that body if it could move through space with the speed of a single particle.
By theorizing "vibration of the ether", De Pretto asserted that mass is vibrating energy and that mass and energy are therefore interchangeable. He then speculated that ordinary matter may be considered to be vibrating at the speed of light
Speed of light
The speed of light in vacuum, usually denoted by c, is a physical constant important in many areas of physics. Its value is 299,792,458 metres per second, a figure that is exact since the length of the metre is defined from this constant and the international standard for time...
c. According to De Pretto,
- The matter of any body contains within it a sum of energy represented by the entire mass of the body[... ] Nobody will easily admit that, stored in a latent state, in any kilogram of matter, completely hidden to all our investigations, hides such a sum of energy, equivalent to the amount that can be extracted from millions and millions of kilograms of coal."
½mv² versus mc²
De Pretto used the expression for the "vis vivaVis viva
In the history of science, vis viva is an obsolete scientific theory that served as an elementary and limited early formulation of the principle of conservation of energy...
" and the energy store within matter, where he identified v with the speed of light. His formula is apparently in agreement with Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein was a German-born theoretical physicist who developed the theory of general relativity, effecting a revolution in physics. For this achievement, Einstein is often regarded as the father of modern physics and one of the most prolific intellects in human history...
's formula
for Mass-energy equivalenceMass-energy equivalence
In physics, mass–energy equivalence is the concept that the mass of a body is a measure of its energy content. In this concept, mass is a property of all energy, and energy is a property of all mass, and the two properties are connected by a constant...
, which was derived by Einstein as a consequence of special relativity
Special relativity
Special relativity is the physical theory of measurement in an inertial frame of reference proposed in 1905 by Albert Einstein in the paper "On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies".It generalizes Galileo's...
.
However, Umberto Bartocci (professor of mathematics and a critic of relativity theory) speculated about a possible influence of De Pretto on Einstein. On the other hand, Ignazio Marchioro argued, that there is no connection, since the theory of De Pretto was based on the aether (a superseded theory not present in special relativity), and also that De Pretto's formula is only a variation of the kinetic energy formula. While Bartocci agrees that De Pretto's theory is not connected with relativity, he is still of the opinion that his thoughts on the energy reservoir within matter could have influenced Einstein.
Radioactive Decay
De Pretto's paper discussed the radioactive decayRadioactive decay
Radioactive decay is the process by which an atomic nucleus of an unstable atom loses energy by emitting ionizing particles . The emission is spontaneous, in that the atom decays without any physical interaction with another particle from outside the atom...
of uranium and thorium and was the first to conclude that this decay was energy transformation from mass into energy. He also presented a hypothesis that the intense heat assumed to be in the center of the Earth
Earth
Earth is the third planet from the Sun, and the densest and fifth-largest of the eight planets in the Solar System. It is also the largest of the Solar System's four terrestrial planets...
(theory of central fire) was caused by the tremendous mass of the earth creating a massive radioactive core giving off heat and energy.
Honors
In 1906 De Pretto was accepted as a member of Accademia dei LinceiAccademia dei Lincei
The Accademia dei Lincei, , is an Italian science academy, located at the Palazzo Corsini on the Via della Lungara in Rome, Italy....
, a scientific organization whose members included Galileo Galilei
Galileo Galilei
Galileo Galilei , was an Italian physicist, mathematician, astronomer, and philosopher who played a major role in the Scientific Revolution. His achievements include improvements to the telescope and consequent astronomical observations and support for Copernicanism...
. The director of the organization, Ernesto Mancini, was also a member of The Royal Society of London, an international scientific society. Mancini submitted De Pretto's paper to the Royal Society for international recognition. It was received favorably and was listed in the Society's "International Catalogue of Scientific Literature".