Amelia Tonon (1899–1961) was an Italian entomologist who researched silkworms, their eggs and crossbreeding them. She also patented a technique to stain embryos.

Life and work

Amelia Tonon was born in

Trieste Trieste ( , ; sl, Trst ; german: Triest ) is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is the capital city, and largest city, of the autonomous region of Friuli Venezia Giulia, one of two autonomous regions which are not subdivided into provi ...

on 23 March 1899 (Trieste is now part of Italy, but at the time, the city was part of the

Habsburg monarchy The Habsburg monarchy (german: Habsburgermonarchie, ), also known as the Danubian monarchy (german: Donaumonarchie, ), or Habsburg Empire (german: Habsburgerreich, ), was the collection of empires, kingdoms, duchies, counties and other polities ...

). As a teenager, she moved to

Padua, Italy Padua ( ; it, Padova ; vec, Pàdova) is a city and ''comune'' in Veneto, northern Italy. Padua is on the river Bacchiglione, west of Venice. It is the capital of the province of Padua. It is also the economic and communications hub of the ...

, where she graduated from the

University of Padua The University of Padua ( it, Università degli Studi di Padova, UNIPD) is an Italian university located in the city of Padua, region of Veneto, northern Italy. The University of Padua was founded in 1222 by a group of students and teachers from B ...

in natural sciences. In 1923, she worked in a temporary assignment as a researcher at the Experimental Zoological Station of the University of Padua. The next July she competed for a permanent version of her position and won. Later she also earned her license adding teaching credentials to her skill set. In 1928, she spent three weeks as a visiting researcher at the Naples Zoological Station. Except for her time in Naples, Tonon worked exclusively at the Zoological Station of Padua. There, she performed experiments specializing in the conservation and treatment of

silkworm The domestic silk moth (''Bombyx mori''), is an insect from the moth family Bombycidae. It is the closest relative of ''Bombyx mandarina'', the wild silk moth. The silkworm is the larva or caterpillar of a silk moth. It is an economically imp ...

eggs. More specifically, she analyzed the evolution and physiology of

vitelline Vitelline may refer to: Embryology * Vitelline arteries, arteries that bring blood to the yolk sac * Vitelline circulation, the system of blood flowing between an embryo and its yolk sac * Vitelline cyst, a developmental defect relating to the c ...

cells in relation to their activities; she dealt with embryonic anomalies in the stages of development; she focused on the phenomenon of albinism and its relations in larval life. She received a

patent A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an enabling disclosure of the invention."A p ...

for her new method of staining embryos. When other researchers began using Tonon's technique, they could more easily monitor the development of an embryo. In addition to the embryos, Tonon was also interested in silkworm eggs and their reaction to exposure to

ultraviolet Ultraviolet (UV) is a form of electromagnetic radiation with wavelength from 10 nanometer, nm (with a corresponding frequency around 30 Hertz, PHz) to 400 nm (750 Hertz, THz), shorter than that of visible light, but longer than ...

rays and steam tar. Her final research endeavors concerned the possible crossings of different breeds of silkworms: she also achieved good results by selecting valuable breeds. She also studied the structure of

mulberry ''Morus'', a genus of flowering plants in the family Moraceae, consists of diverse species of deciduous trees commonly known as mulberries, growing wild and under cultivation in many temperate world regions. Generally, the genus has 64 identif ...

buds. She died in 1960 or 1961 on 21 August, in Padua.

Selected works

* Tonon, A. (1925) (with G. Teodoro) ''Tecnica per lo studio microscopico del Bombyx mori, (Technique for the microscopic study of Bombyx mori)'' «Bollettino di Sericoltura», A. XXXII, n. 9. ''Anomalie embrionali nei lepidotteri Bombyx mori,'' «Atti e memorie della Regia Accademia di Scienze, Lettere e Arti di Padova», 1924, vol. L. * Tonon, A. (1926). ''Variabilità dei caratteri embriologici nell'uovo di Filugello durante la diapausa''. (''Variability of embryological characters in the Silkworm egg during diapause''). Grafiche Carlo Ferrari.

References

External links

* Conci, C.; Poggi, R. 1996: Iconography of Italian Entomologists, with essential biographical data. Memorie della Società Entomologica Italiana, Genova 75, S. 159-382, B15: 10 160 a, pp. 159-382, Portr. *E. Masera, ''Necrologio, Annuario della stazione bacologica sperimentale di Padova'' (''Yearbook of the experimental zoological station of Padua LI),'' 1961, pp., 7-8. {{DEFAULTSORT:Tonon, Amelia 1899 births 1961 deaths People from Padua People from Trieste Italian entomologists 20th-century Italian zoologists 20th-century Italian scientists University of Padua alumni