Incontri celesti, vita del padre Clavio in cinque atti

TL;DR

This paper commemorates Christopher Clavius's life and astronomical achievements, highlighting his historical eclipses and a modern project named after him that develops high-resolution CMOS cameras for astronomy.

Contribution

It presents a theatrical tribute to Clavius's life, combining historical facts with contemporary scientific projects inspired by his legacy.

Findings

Clavius observed two total eclipses from centerline in 1560 and 1567.

A modern project named after Clavius develops high-resolution CMOS cameras.

The project aims to produce precise measurements of the solar diameter.

Abstract

The year 2012 will be the fourth centennial year of the Jesuit Christopher Clavius (1535-1612), known as the Euclid of XVI century and the collaborator of the Pope Gregory XIII for the calendar reformation. In the occasion of the year of astronomy I wrote a short theatre pi\`ece "Celestial encounters" dedicated to the life of Ft. Clavius. He observed two total eclipses from centreline in 1560 in Coimbra and in 1567 in Rome, a fact which is remarkable even for contemporary astronomers. The story is developed around those trips: scientific and religious motivations are put in evidence with historical and fantasy, but realistic, facts. An interregional project between Switzerland and Italy, dedicated to the development of high resolution CMOS camera for astronomy and medical sciences has been entitled to Clavius and will produce high resolution measurements of solar diameter.