Vasco Ronchi (born 19.12.1897) is an Italian physicist. He was born in Florence. He graduated from the universities of Pisa (1919) and Florence. In 1920 — 27 he worked at the Institute of Physics of the University of Florence, in 1927 organised the National Institute of Optics (Florence — Arcetri) and was its director for a long time.
His work was in theoretical, applied and physiological optics and the history of physics. He invented (1922) the achromatic grating interferometer. He is the author of “The History of Light” (1939).
In 1957 — 69 he was president of the International Union of the History and Philosophy of Science, and he is the founder, and from 1939 the president, of the Italian Optical Society.