A History of the Italian Space Adventure: Pioneers and Achievements from the Xivth Century to the Present - Hardcover

by Giovanni Caprara (Author)

Back Jacket

This book retraces the long history of Italian space activities, from the end of the fourteenth century, when the word "rocket" was invented in Italy, through to the present day. The narrative is based on a wide range of evidence, including many previously unpublished documents and interviews with those directly involved in the more recent initiatives. Readers will learn about the development of pyrotechnic rockets; early research into rocket science; pioneers and visionaries of the twentieth century; the first Italian rockets, developed by the German scientists Hermann Oberth and Rolf Engel for military purposes; and the African adventure of Luigi Broglio, the "father" of Italian space exploration, who built and launched the first Italian satellite. The coverage of the later history includes the foundation of the Italian Space Agency (ASI), the ASI's role in scientific and technological space programs and collaboration with NASA's space shuttle program, and Italian involvement in the International Space Station and the European Ariane and Vega rockets. In recounting the fascinating and multifaceted story of the Italian space adventure, the book will appeal to a wide audience.

Author Biography

Giovanni Caprara is scientific editor of the Corriere della Sera and Professor of History of Space Exploration at the Politecnico di Milano (Polytechnic University of Milan). He is also curator of the Space section of the National Museum of Science and Technology "Leonardo da Vinci" in Milan. He has received many awards, including the ConScientia Award (scientific journalist of the year) from the universities of Milan in 2000, the European Science Writers Award from the Euroscience Foundation in 2010, and the Award for Scientific Communication from the Italian Physical Society (SIF) in 2016. Since 2011 he has been President of UGIS, the Union of Italian Scientific Journalists. In 2014 he was made a Knight of the Italian Republic. An asteroid in orbit between Mars and Jupiter bears his name (Caprara 10928). He is the author of numerous publications on the history of space science and exploration, published in Europe and the United States. Examples include: The Space Age (Mondadori), TheAdventure of Science (Rizzoli), A Brief History of the Great Scientific Discoveries (Bompiani), Discovering the Solar System (with Margherita Hack, Mondadori), Living Space (FireFly), Italy on the Shuttle (Mondadori), and The Complete Encyclopedia of Space Satellites (FireFly).