Leopoldo Nobili (1784-5.08.1835) was an Italian physicist. He was born in Trassilico. He was a captain in the Italian army. From 1831 he was professor at the museum in Florence.
His main research was on electromagnetism. He invented (1825) a highly sensitive galvanometer (the Nobili galvanometer). He constructed (1830) a thermocouple, a thermomultiplier of high sensitivity and an astatic galvanometer. He proposed a rule for determining the direction of induced currents and obtained (1831) a spark from them. He studied heat rays and the phenomenon of electrolysis. Together with M. Melloni he investigated (1831) the thermal spectrum of the Sun and the “transparency” of various bodies to heat rays.
Member of the Paris Academy of Sciences (1833).