ANTONIO PACINOTTI IN CAGLIARI
Convinced by the Rector, who also informed him of the granting of a large, extraordinary assignment of funds to the Physics Laboratory, Antonio Pacinotti decided to remain as a professor in Cagliari.
The decision must certainly have been a hard one to make, one that was accompanied by the bitter delusion of not having received, first at ministerial level and then at local level, the possibility of doing in Pisa what he thought would be most difficult to do in Cagliari.His state of mind concerning this is clearly expressed in a letter to his professor of physics and master, Riccardo Felici, dated 30 September 1875, in which he gave vent to his emotions.
His desire was to set up in Pisa, in the Technological Physics Laboratory, a small workshop for the construction of his machines; but he understood that that would be impossible if the reform giving the University of Pisa the faculty to award diplomas in Civil Engineering was approved, and he urged Professor Felici to do all he could to avoid this.But that reform was approved and came into force in 1876.
Then, mentioning the granting of that large assignment to the Physics Laboratory of the Royal University of Cagliari, of which Rector Gennari had informed him, he concluded this venting of his emotions with the consideration that such an assignment, more than in Cagliari, would have been of great help in Pisa in the Technological Physics Laboratory and, to stay there, he was willing to accept "even a secondary position" temporarily. ...continues
