science

Tizio

Tizio is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Tizio rather than just read about it. In short: Tizio is a desk lamp created by Richard Sapper for Artemide in 1972. It was selected for the Compasso d'Oro industrial design award in 1979.

Key takeaways

Tizio belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Tizio to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Tizio from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Tizio is a desk lamp created by Richard Sapper for Artemide in 1972. It was selected for the Compasso d'Oro industrial design award in 1979. The lamp is in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and Museum of Modern Art. The position and the direction of the bulb can be adjusted; thanks to two counterweights, moving it requires little effort. There are no wires between the base and the lamp: the two parallel arms, connected with snap fasteners, conduct safe 12-volt electricity. The bulb is halogen, which was previously mainly used in the automotive industry. The Tizio is available in a variety of sizes and colours; the original, and most widely known, is the 50 (referring to the wattage of the bulb) in black. The mid-sized model is the 35, and there is the bedside-sized Micro (20 Watts). Other colours are white, and grey metallic; and, the occasional limited edition in polished aluminium, or titanium-colour. There also is a floorstanding version, the Terra, which consist of a 70-centimeter-high pedestal with the same 11 cm diameter as the lamp's base, with the 50 added on top. The Terra-stand is also available in a 10 cm diameter, matching the 35 model. Recently, an energy-saving LED-powered version of the full-sized model has been added; as has a version of the regular 50 with a horizontally rotatable head, the Plus. The LED and Plus versions are equipped with a dimmer; all other versions have a three-position switch, allowing for off, full, and – approximately – half power. Design changes were made to the head in the nineties – a glass cover, and a thin wire terminating in a small red bead were added. The name Tizio was given by Ernesto Gismondi, the founder of Artemide, and alludes to Tizio, Caio e Sempronio, the Italian equivalent of Tom, Dick and Harry. One explanation for the name is that Gismondi hoped to appeal to everyone; another is that Gismondi hoped to convince Sapper to create Caio and Sempronio designs as well.

Bibliography Volker Fischer, Hans Höger. The Tizio-Light by Richard Sapper. Art Books International Limited 1997 ISBN 3931317420

See also Balanced-arm lamp Lampette Tensor lamp Tolomeo desk lamp, sometimes considered its successor

References

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Tizio

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Tizio claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Tizio before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Tizio ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Tizio

In research: Tizio appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Tizio in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Tizio is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Light fixtures, Types of lamp, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Tizio outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Tizio in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Tizio means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Tizio out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Tizio in simple terms?

Tizio is a desk lamp created by Richard Sapper for Artemide in 1972. It was selected for the Compasso d'Oro industrial design award in 1979.

Why does Tizio matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Tizio?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Tizio.