Draft:Atanasio Cavalli

Atanasio Cavalli (Asti, 1729 – Rome, 10 October 1797) was an Italian abbot, geophysicist and astronomer. He also engaged in poetry and taught physics and moral philosophy.

Biography
Born in Asti in 1729, Cavalli became an abbot belonging to the order of the Carmelites. He taught at the carmelite convent in Turin and later at the University of Malta. In 1770 he asked for and obtained secularization and moved to Rome where he was professor of physics and then of moral philosophy at the Gregorian University.

He is given credit for advances in anemoscope design, and also produced a mercury seismoscope.

On 14 January 1784 he became a member of the Academy of Sciences of Turin.

He died in Rome on October 10, 1797.

Publications
Lettere di Filalete accademico libero, Turin 1764 Lightning and the sure way to avoid its effects. Dialoghi tre, Milan 1766 Il Vesuvio, poemetto storico-fisico, Milan 1776 Un poemetto per l'acclamazione a Pastori Arcadi dei Principi di Piemonte, Rome 1776 Latin Prayer in death of the King of Portugal, Rome 1776 Lettere Meteorologiche, volume 2, Rome 1785