<https://www.oeaw.ac.at/fileadmin/subsites/Institute/VID/ICAL-files/Colloqui um/WIC_Colloquium_15.10.2025_Alessio_Fornasin_-_The_circadian_rhythm_of_birt hs_and.ics> Wednesday, 15 October 2025 11:30 - 12:30 (CEST) Location: Meeting Room 4, 4th floor, PSK, Georg Coch Platz 2, 1010 Vienna. Please register <https://www.oeaw.ac.at/vid/events/wic-colloquium/wic-colloquium-registratio n> here. The circadian rhythm of births and his connections with meteorological factors Alessio Fornasin, University of Udine Abstract: The aim of the presentation is to evaluate the influences exerted by temperature on the circadian rhythm of births. In the past, births occurred mainly between midnight and dawn, while today births tend to be less frequent during the night hours. Today, almost all births are hospitalised and, therefore, they may adapt to the organizational requirements of the health care structures and staff. This research regards births in Udine, a city in north-eastern Italy, recorded at the beginning of the 19th century. The data on births come from the French civil register. Weather data are from very detailed data collection with three daily inputs. From the statistical point of view, we apply methods developed for circular data. The results confirm that the circadian rhythm of births is influenced by temperature. About the presenter: Alessio Fornasin is Professor of Demography at the University of Udine. He published extensively on historical demography and economic history and has participated in numerous national and international research projects. In recent years, his works have addressed the influence of the environment on demographic behavior in the past, the history of the family in the first half of the twentieth century, and the demographic aspects of the First World War. He is a former President of the Italian Society of Historical Demography (SIDeS).
