Giovanni Venturi

Giovanni Batista Venturi was born on 11 September 1746 in Bibbiano, west of Modena in Italy. Venturi lived in an interesting time in history, as he was a contemporary of the likes of military leader Napoleon Bonaparte, composer Ludwig von Beethoven and explorer James Cook. At the age of 23, he became a teacher and was ordained a priest. Five years later, he served as a professor at the University of Modena, before being appointed state engineer and auditor. In that capacity, he became an expert in fluid mechanics and hydraulics, whilst planning and overseeing bridge and dam construction, as well as the redirection of waterways. At the age of forty, Venturi returned to the University of Modena as professor of experimental physics. In the 1790s, he famously published what has become known as the ‘Venturi Effect’. Essentially, the phenomenon involves the reduction of fluid pressure when a fluid flows through a restricted or narrow section of a tube. The effect also applies to gasses, such as air. Venturi’s findings only truly became useful during the late 1800s, when American engineer Clemens Herschel built the first commercial ‘Venturi meter’, used to accurately measure the flow of water. Today, Venturi’s findings are vital in the manufacture of a variety of products, ranging from perfume spray nozzles to gas stoves and carburetors.

In aviation, Venturi tubes can be mounted on an aircraft’s fuselage and used to effectively create a vacuum, generating enough suction to power gyroscopic instruments. Venturi tube systems were quite common on early light aircraft. Using a Venturi tube as a source of suction is comparatively inexpensive and simple, but also less reliable and capable than more modern systems. In the early 1910s, engineers experimented with several different types of airspeed indicators. One of these was a Venturi tube which was used to measure airspeed. It was first used in 1911 in France and saw widespread use over the next few years.

During the late 1700s and early 1800s, Giovanni Venturi gained considerable respect as a historian. He was said to be the first to bring attention to Leonardo da Vinci’s work as an engineer and scientist, rather than as an artist. Later, Venturi also edited and published the work of astronomer Galileo Galilei. Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte bestowed several awards on Venturi and gave him numerous high-profile responsibilities. Venturi retired in 1813 and died in April 1822, at the age of 76.