Francesco Maggiotto

There he had, among his pupils, some painters that would become prominent of Venetian neoclassicism, such as Lattanzio Querena, Giovanni Carlo Bevilacqua, Natale Schiavoni and even Francesco Hayez.

Furthermore, according to what can be inferred from his testament and the autobiography of one of his pupils, Giovanni Carlo Bevilacqua, He invented and built some telescopes and camerae obscurae.

In the 18th century, the desire of scholars to carry out experiments and verify theories grew not only for research purposes, but also among students and, especially in Great Britain, some workshops specialized in the construction of scientific equipment flourished.

Many tests had already been carried out, and various types of machines had been built which used cylinders or discs which, when rubbed with an external object, became charged with electrostatic energy and released very powerful sparks; this showed the physicists of the time that there was fluido elettrico ("electrical fluid"), as it was then called.

[8] Some models of electric machines coupled several cylinders or discs but this, according to Maggiotto, did not proportionally increase the electrostatic energy accumulated and therefore the intensity of the spark.

These crystals, during the movement of the wheel, rubbed against four strofinatori, that is, bearings of eight inches each, made up of crini (probably animal hair) covered with a very thin sheet of brass (at the time commonly called oro cantarino).

[11] The electric discharge generated and contained in the above pots was able to pierce "20 large sheets of carton paper, placed one above the other, which had the thickness of an inch and a half".