ROTA

ITALY (see also List of Individuals)

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18.11.1860 Napoli/I - 24.12.1953 Roma/I

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Giuseppe Rota graduated as a naval engineer from the Scuola Superiore Navale of Genova in 1882 and from there entered the Italian marine forces, where he essentially spent his entire career. Among others he designed the warships San Marco and San Giorgio, the cruisers Cavour and Doria and high speed boats of up to 40 knots/h. He retired in 1945 to preside over the National Tank for experimental naval architecture in Rome. He was also the editor of the National Tank publications. Rota was decorated from the Ministry of Marine the Medal of the First Order for his merits in naval engineering, and he was a Senator of the Italian State.

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Together with William Froude (1810-1879) and Bruno Joannes Tideman (1834-1883) among others, Rota is considered a pioneer in naval engineering. A first naval experimental tank based on the design of Froude was inaugurated in 1887 in the La Spezia Laboratory, then directed by Benedetto Brin (1833-1898) and confined to Rota. The first experimental results were published in 1891 and complemented by the 1898 work. The 1900 paper involves the effect of water depth on the resistance pattern of a ship, an effect so far not systematically analyzed in the laboratory. Other papers involve the design and improvement of propellers in naval propulsion, and general aspects of naval resistance. He thereby proposed corrective terms to the original Froude approach by accounting for the various effects that influence resistance and by limiting his approach. In 1927, Rota designed the Naval Experimental Tank in Rome. At the age of 90, Rota published a summary work Naval architecture, the subject matter that had determined all his professional career.

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_{Anonymous (1954). General Giuseppe Rota, Italy's premier naval architect. Engineering 177: 99. Guida, A. (1975). Giuseppe Rota. Scienziati e tecnologi 3: 56-57. Mondadori: Milano.}

_{Rota, G. (1898). La vasca per le esperienze di architettura navale nel Reale Arsenale di Spezia.}

_{Reale Ufficio Idrografico: Genova.}

_{Rota, G. (1900). Influence of depth of water on the resistance of ships. Trans. Institution of Naval Architects 41: 239-248.}

_{Rota, G. (1905). Progrès dans les moyens de propulsion des navires - Conséquences au point de vue des chenaux et des ports. 10 Congrès de Navigation Milano 2(2): 1-9.}

_{Rota, G. (1928). La vasca nazionale per le esperienze. Ingegnere 2(10): 586-591. Rota, G. (1950). Architettura navale. Briano: Genova.}

_{Saltari, A.M. (2006). Giuseppe Rota. Personal communication. Università La Sapienza: Roma. P}