ANTONIO PACINOTTI IN CAGLIARI

The minister did not accept his offer: thus Pacinotti took up his position in Cagliari and had to interrupt his work on the closed circuit magnetic machine.

Before the end of his second scholastic year in Cagliari, Pacinotti, in a letter dated 6 October 1874, asked the Rector, Professor Patrizio Gennari, to spend scholastic year 1874-75 in Pisa to be near his ailing father and help him, as his assistant, in the practical exercises and lessons, being substituted in Cagliari by a substitute to be paid with a part of his salary.The request was granted and, in that year spent in Pisa, Pacinotti, besides teaching hydraulics, worked hard on researching the electricity produced by molecular friction and a new electromagnetic machine with an electromagnetic flywheel which he later built in Cagliari.

In August 1875, his leave of absence having expired, in reply to the invitation to deliver the inaugural address for scholastic year 1875-76, he wrote to the Rector:"I spoke with the Dean of the Technical Institute in Leghorn and, should I apply, there is the possibility for me to obtain the position of Physicist at the Technical Institute with a stipend of 2200 lire and an assignment of 500 lire...Before applying, which would imply my giving up the position in Cagliari, I feel obliged to beg you to help me with your advice".

He then went on:
"I feel most humiliated and I should feel greatly ashamed to pronounce the inaugural address at a University that has been most kind to me, thus repaying kindness in such poor fashion.I wish I could place all my affection in such University, but alas, I cannot but feel the crossing of the sea as an exile..." ...continues