Giovanni Battista Hodierna, also spelled as Odierna (April 13, 1597 – April 6, 1660)[1] was an Italian astronomer at the court of Giulio Tomasi, Duke of Palma (Palma di Montechiaro).

Hodierna was born in Ragusa, Sicily and died in Palma di Montechiaro.

While serving as a Roman Catholic priest in Ragusa, he also practised astronomy.

[1] In 1654 he published a book entitled De systemate orbis cometici, deque admirandis coeli characteribus that contained a catalogue of celestial objects and a list of double stars.

In addition to his astronomical observations, he utilized optic microscopes to study insects, publishing on the multifaceted eye of flies and that in bee colonies only the queen is oviparous.