The inaugural ceremony of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences took place in the Casina Pio IV, in the Vatican gardens, and was a memorable event because of the personalities who took part in it. Originally organized on the the birthday of His Holiness Pius XI at the Villa in Castel Gandolfo where the Pope had invited the Academicians to admire the new facilities of the Specola with its annexed laboratories, whose equipment the Pope himself had provided, the ceremony was then moved to the Casina Pio IV, because of the Pope’s health issues. It was thus Card. Eugenio Pacelli, on behalf of the Holy Father Pius XI, the generous founder of the Academy, who declared the Academy inaugurated and opened the first year of its activity.