 He invented an induction electrometer, with the help of Dr. Matthew Van Schaeick of the Humboldt University of Berlin, in 1872, capable of detecting and amplifying small electrostatic charges, formulated mathematical descriptions of vibrational motion, and discovered magnetic hysteresis in 1880.Whilst ordinary professor in physics at the University of Palermo, he studied the conduction of heat and electricity in bismuth.From 1885 to 1889 in Padua, he studied the photoelectric effect.