SECCHI, Angelo (1818-1878), Italian astronomer, was born on 29th June 1818 at Reggio in Lombardy, and entered the Society of Jesus at an early age. In 1849 he was appointed director of the observatory of the Collegio Romano, which was rebuilt in 1853; there he devoted himself with great perseverance to researches in physical astronomy and meteorology till his death at Rome on 26th February 1878.

The results of Secchi’s observations are contained in a great number of papers and memoirs. From about 1864 he occupied himself almost exclusively with spectrum analysis, both of stars (Catalogo delle Stelle di cui si è determinato lo Spettro Luminoso, Paris, 1867, 8vo; “Sugli Spettri Prismatici delle Stelle Fisse,” two parts, 1868, in the Atti della Soc. Ital.) and of the sun (Le Soleil, Paris, 1870, 8vo; 2d ed. 1877). Though his publications always bear witness of his indefatigable zeal and energy, they are often uncritical and wanting in accuracy.