Enrico Angelo Lodovico Negretti

Born in Como and later active in London, Enrico Angelo Lodovico Negretti was a scientific instrument maker, optician, and writer on meteorological instruments. He is commonly associated with the name Henry Negretti, and he became widely known through the firm Negretti & Zambra, which he formed with Joseph Zambra in 1850.

Negretti began as a glass-blower and thermometer maker, and his work grew into a business known for barometers, thermometers, and other scientific apparatus. Contemporary and later reference sources describe the firm as an important supplier of instruments in Victorian Britain, including work connected with major public and scientific institutions.

For readers today, he is especially notable as the co-author of A Treatise on Meteorological Instruments (1864), a practical guide explaining how weather-measuring instruments worked, how they were made, and why they mattered. That blend of hands-on craft knowledge and plain explanation gives his writing its lasting appeal.