ZANON

ITALY (see also List of Individuals)

\

.. 1845 /I -.. 1920 Venezia/I

\

Giovanni Antonio (Giannantonio) Zanon was educated as a physicist and later joined Venice Institute of Naval Engineering as a professor of steam machinery design. Eventually, his activities expanded to naval engineering in general, and he also was interested in questions of hydromechanics. Zanon was a Member of the Collegio Pontificia Accademia Romana di S. Tommaso d'Aquino, and a Corresponding Member of the Learned Society of Genova. Few details of his life are available, however, mainly because this Institution does no more exist, at least not in the same environment as a century ago.

\

Zanon had an interest in coastal hydromechanics, and in his 1906 paper developed the shallow-water equations previously considered by Joseph Boussinesq (1842-1929) for this purpose. This system of partial differential equations may be solved if a simplified bottom topography is considered, and if the linearized equations are employed for computational analysis. Other works include the prediction of waves in harbours, given the interest of the city of Venice in these questions. Zanon also added to the history of Venice Harbour and Venice Arsenal, which had important roles in the past times when the Republic of Venice counted to the world powers. Finally, Zanon also considered philosophical questions in relation to physics and physiology.

\

_{Errera, A., Zanon, G. (1870). La industria navale. Naratovich: Venezia. Zanon, G. (1875). L'arsenale e il porto di Venezia. Barbera: Roma.}

_{Zanon, G. (1877). Questioni idrauliche e storiche sul porto e sull'estuario di Venezia. Barbera: Roma.}

_{Zanon, G. (1885). Le ipotesi fisiche. Tondelli: Venezia.}

_{Zanon, G. (1888). Principi di fisica secondo la dottrina dell'ilemorfismo. Emiliana: Venezia. Zanon, G. (1888). La teoria dei liquidi del. Sig. P. De Heen, adattati ai principi dell'ileformismo. Arcivescovile: Bologna.}

_{Zanon. G. (1891). L'ipnotismo: Questione fisica, fisiologica e filosofica. Tondelli: Venezia. Zanon, G. (1906). Origine del flusso e del riflusso nell'estuario Veneto. Atti del Reale Istituto Veneto di Scienze, Lettere ed Arti 65(2): 415-443.}