Vittorio Francesco Stancari

Vittorio Francesco Stancari (29 July 167828 March 1709) was a professor of mathematics at the University of Bologna who undertook research into the measurement of sounds, and into optics and hydrostatics.

Career Vittorio Francesco Stancari was born in Bologna in 1678. In 1698 he became a professor of mathematics at the University of Bologna. Working in the observatory founded by Count Marsigli, Stancari and Eustachio Manfredi discovered the comet C/1707 W1 in the evening of 25 November 1707. They described it as visible to the naked eye, white, irregular and with a short, faint tail. It had the same apparent size as Jupiter.

Stancari experimented with Guillaume Amontons' air thermometer, where air in the bulb pushes up a column of mercury as it expands due to rising temperature. He discovered that the humidity of the air in the bulb had a significant effect on the readings.