in 1872 and 1880 in bologna, he was researching mostly in electrostatics. he became an ordinary professor in physics at the university of palermo in 1880, when he was there he studied the transfer of heat and electricity in bismuth. from 1885 to 1889 he was a professor at the university of padua (padova), studying the photoelectric effect. in late 1889 he went to the university of bologna, where he worked for the rest of his life on things like the zeeman effect, 'roentgen rays', and magnetism.