Bianchini

Bianchini, Francesco, astronomer, was born in 1662 at Verona. He was educated at Padua, and though he took holy orders he devoted his attention chiefly to science. In 1684 he removed to Rome, and was appointed librarian to Cardinal Ottoboni, afterwards Pope Alexander VIII. He became secretary of a committee appointed for the reform of the calendar, was engaged to draw a meridian line through Italy, and superintended the antiquities and monuments of Rome. He died at Rome in 1729, a monument being erected to his memory in Verona cathedral.