Amedeo Avogadro

EXACTLY a century has passed away since the eminent Italian physicist Avogadro published the law which, bearing his name, is now familiar to every elementary student of chemistry or physics. Owing to various causes, Avogadro's labours were but little appreciated, and though he occupied a foremost position among Italian men of science the scientific world in general evinced but little interest in his work. Even the indefatigable Kopp failed to realise the importance of his speculations, with the result that his first history of chemistry contained no reference at all to them. Like Carnot's, Avogadro's writings had to await an interpreter and supporter. In this respect, however, fortune proved more than kind, and in his countryman Cannizzaro, Avogadro obtained an illustrious disciple and a brilliant exponent of his doctrine. But while it is true that the name of Avogadro is now widely known, it is no less true that the record of his life seems to have escaped biographers and historians alike, a statement which will be substantiated by a search through the ordinary English works of reference.