L'Istituto di Fisica di Cagliari tra fine Ottocento e primi decenni del Novecento

The project, started some time ago, aimed at conduct a more accurate and systematic investigation on the situation of Physics in Italy between the XIX and XX centuries, led to the discovery of many peripheral situations and to the role of different physicists not considered of primary importance. It is in this context that the Institute of physics of Cagliari and the figure of Giovanni Guglielmo are examined. Giovanni Guglielmo was a physicist who worked in Torino, Cagliari and Sassari, director of the Physics Laboratory of Cagliari for 37 years, Dean of the Faculty of Science and author of two handwritten notes of his lectures and over one hundred articles published in the most prestigious magazines of his time. Following a bitter controversy with a colleague, Professor of Applied Physics and director of the School of Electrotechniques of Torino, Guglielmo became isolated by the scientific community, giving an early end to his intense scientific career. In the thesis I examine also the role played in Physics Institute of Cagliari by Rita Brunetti, successor of Guglielmo and director of the Institute from 1928 to 1936.