Barilli was born in
Budrio, near
Bologna, Italy, on 20 April 1812. He graduated in 1834 in mathematics and became professor of
mechanics and
hydraulics in 1848. He participated with the political affairs of
Italian unification, and during 1849 participated with the establishment of the
Roman Republic. He was appointed secretary of the Assemblea Costituente (constituent assembly) and was the author of the
Decreto Fondamentale ("Fundamental Decree") which on 9 February 1849 declared the temporal government of the Pope forfeited and proclaimed the Republic. After the end of the Republic he found shelter in the United States and afterwards in London, United Kingdom. Even after the formation of the
Kingdom of Italy and his return to Italy, he ended his appointment as teacher of
mechanics at the
University of Bologna since he refused repeatedly to take his oath of allegiance to the monarchy. In 1876 he was elected as a member of the Parliament for the
Republican Party. He died poor in Bologna in 1894. In his work
Miranda in 1858 he develops the idea of
time zones. Filopanti's hypothesis was to ideally divide the Earth's surface into 24 areas (zones) along the lines of the meridians, each of which should have its own time. Each time zone should differ from the next by one hour, whereas minutes and seconds should coincide within each zone. The first time zone should be centred on Rome's
meridian. The division into time zones should establish the local time (L). His hypothesis provided also for the establishing of a universal time (U) that should be used as only datum line in
astronomy and
telegraph communications. ==Filopanti as paradoxer==