The American Cyclopædia (1879)/Vico, Francesco de

VICO, Francesco de, an Italian astronomer, born in Macerata, May 19, 1805, died in London, Nov. 15, 1848. He was educated at the college of Urbino, and became in 1835 assistant superintendent, and in 1839 director of the observatory of the Roman college. In 1848, when the Jesuits were driven from Rome, he came to the United States. He died while in Europe for the purpose of purchasing instruments for an observatory to be erected under his direction in the state of New York. His fame as an astronomer rests on his observations of the ring system of Saturn and spots of Venus, and his discovery of seven or eight comets. He was also an excellent composer of church music.