When the Duke of Lucca partially paid his gambling debts selling many of the works in the Palazzo Ducale at an auction in London in 1836 the city faced its most serious cultural loss. Masterpieces from churches and private collections were lost forever.Lucca was annexed to the Grand Duchy of Tuscany in 1847 and the Lucchese painter Michele Ridolphi addressed a pleading to the Grand Duke Leopoldo II to refund citizens of this great loss. The Duke sent Lucca 82 works from the Medici Collection and they are now displayed at the Mansi Palazzo in Lucca.This beautiful painting is of Saint Catherine of Alexandria by Ventura Salimbeni 1568-1613
The Biden Administration hopes to create a commercial nuclear fusion facility within 10 years as part of the nation’s transition to clean energy.They aim to harness fusion as a carbon-free energy source that can power homes and businesses one day.Fusion works by pressing hydrogen atoms into each other with such force that they combine into helium, releasing enormous amounts of energy and heat. Unlike other nuclear reactions, it doesn’t create radioactive waste. Proponents of nuclear fusion hope it could one day displace fossil fuels and other traditional energy sources. But producing carbon-free energy that powers homes and businesses from fusion is still decades away.https://www.nbcnews.com/science/science-n
