Medical Dictionary
Main Entry:
Ric·co's law Pronunciation:
'rik-Oz- Function:
noun : a statement in physiology: when a light source of a given size and intensity is justcapable of producing visual sensation, reduction of either size or intensity will make it invisible
Ricácò /rEk-'kO,/ Annibale (1844–1919), Italianastrophysicist. A professor of astrophysics, Riccò founded an astronomical and meteorological station on Mt. Etna. For over forty years, he conducted a regular series of direct and spectroscopicobservations of the sun, accumulating data on the frequency, position, and development of sunspots and clouds of solar gases and on their influence on terrestrial phenomena. Also interested in geodesyand geophysics, he made measurements in Sicily of the local values of the earth's gravitational and magnetic fields.
