Giovanni Canestrini (26 December 1835 – 14 February 1900) was an Italian naturalist and

biologist A biologist is a scientist who conducts research in biology. Biologists are interested in studying life on Earth, whether it is an individual Cell (biology), cell, a multicellular organism, or a Community (ecology), community of Biological inter ...

and

translator Translation is the communication of the Meaning (linguistic), meaning of a #Source and target languages, source-language text by means of an Dynamic and formal equivalence, equivalent #Source and target languages, target-language text. The ...

who was a native of

Revò Revò (Ladin: ''Rvòu'', german: Nußdorf am Nonsberg) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in Trentino in the northern Italian region Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol, located about north of Trento. Geography Revò is situated on a grassy plain in the ...

Career

He initially studied in

Gorizia Gorizia (; sl, Gorica , colloquially 'old Gorizia' to distinguish it from Nova Gorica; fur, label= Standard Friulian, Gurize, fur, label= Southeastern Friulian, Guriza; vec, label= Bisiacco, Gorisia; german: Görz ; obsolete English ''Gorit ...

and

Meran Merano (, , ) or Meran () is a city and ''comune'' in South Tyrol, northern Italy. Generally best known for its spa resorts, it is located within a basin, surrounded by mountains standing up to above sea level, at the entrance to the Passeier ...

, then furthered his education in

natural sciences Natural science is one of the branches of science concerned with the description, understanding and prediction of natural phenomena, based on empirical evidence from observation and experimentation. Mechanisms such as peer review and repeatab ...

at the

University of Vienna The University of Vienna (german: Universität Wien) is a public research university located in Vienna, Austria. It was founded by Duke Rudolph IV in 1365 and is the oldest university in the German-speaking world. With its long and rich histor ...

. From 1862 to 1869, he was a lecturer at the

University of Modena The University of Modena and Reggio Emilia ( it, Università degli Studi di Modena e Reggio Emilia), located in Modena and Reggio Emilia, Emilia-Romagna, Italy, is one of the oldest universities in Italy, founded in 1175, with a population of 2 ...

, and in 1869 became a professor of

zoology Zoology ()The pronunciation of zoology as is usually regarded as nonstandard, though it is not uncommon. is the branch of biology that studies the Animal, animal kingdom, including the anatomy, structure, embryology, evolution, Biological clas ...

and

comparative anatomy Comparative anatomy is the study of similarities and differences in the anatomy of different species. It is closely related to evolutionary biology and phylogeny (the evolution of species). The science began in the classical era, continuing in t ...

at 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 1862 he founded the ''Società dei Naturalisti Modenesi'' (

Modena Modena (, , ; egl, label=Emilian language#Dialects, Modenese, Mòdna ; ett, Mutna; la, Mutina) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) on the south side of the Po Valley, in the Province of Modena in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern I ...

Society of Naturalists), and in 1871, the ''Società Veneto-Trentina di Scienze Naturali'' (

Trento Trento ( or ; Ladin and lmo, Trent; german: Trient ; cim, Tria; , ), also anglicized as Trent, is a city on the Adige River in Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol in Italy. It is the capital of the autonomous province of Trento. In the 16th centu ...

-Venetian Society of Natural Sciences). He is credited with establishment of the

bacteriology Bacteriology is the branch and specialty of biology that studies the morphology, ecology, genetics and biochemistry of bacteria as well as many other aspects related to them. This subdivision of microbiology involves the identification, classificat ...

laboratory at

Padua 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 ...

. Canestrini made contributions in several biological disciplines, performing important research in the field of

acarology Acarology (from Ancient Greek /, , a type of mite; and , ) is the study of mites and ticks, the animals in the order Acarina. It is a subfield of arachnology, a subdiscipline of the field of zoology. A zoologist specializing in acarology is cal ...

. He was an advocate of

Darwinism Darwinism is a scientific theory, theory of Biology, biological evolution developed by the English naturalist Charles Darwin (1809–1882) and others, stating that all species of organisms arise and develop through the natural selection of smal ...

, and was responsible for translating Darwin's works. In 1864, he was the first to translate Darwin's ''

On the Origin of Species ''On the Origin of Species'' (or, more completely, ''On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life''),The book's full original title was ''On the Origin of Species by Me ...

'' into Italian.Kölbl-Ebert, Martina. (2009). ''Geology and Religion: A History of Harmony and Hostility''. The Geological Society. p. 270. Through these translations, Canestrini was a principal factor concerning the popularity of Darwinism in 19th century Italy. He wrote ''Origine dell’uomo'' (''The Origin of Man'', 1866) which advocated

common ancestry Common descent is a concept in evolutionary biology applicable when one species is the ancestor of two or more species later in time. All living beings are in fact descendants of a unique ancestor commonly referred to as the last universal comm ...

and defended Darwin from criticisms of

Giovanni Giuseppe Bianconi Giovanni Giuseppe Bianconi, sometimes J. Josephi or Joseph Bianconi, (31 July 1809 in Bologna – 18 October 1878 in Bologna) was an Italian zoologist, herpetologist, botanist and geologist. Career Bianconi was a Professor of Natural History at t ...

and others, this work was published five years before Darwin's ''

The Descent of Man ''The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex'' is a book by English naturalist Charles Darwin, first published in 1871, which applies evolutionary theory to human evolution, and details his theory of sexual selection, a form of biolo ...

''.Birx, H. James. (2006). ''Encyclopedia of Anthropology, Volume 1''. Sage Publications. p. 686-687. However, although Canestrini was a supporter of many of Darwin's ideas, he rejected his theories of

pangenesis Pangenesis was Charles Darwin's hypothetical mechanism for heredity, in which he proposed that each part of the body continually emitted its own type of small organic particles called gemmules that aggregated in the gonads, contributing herita ...

and

sexual selection Sexual selection is a mode of natural selection in which members of one biological sex mate choice, choose mates of the other sex to mating, mate with (intersexual selection), and compete with members of the same sex for access to members of t ...

. During his career he was the author of almost 200 scientific publications.

Written works

Canestrini, Giovanni – Teoria di Darwin, 1880 – BEIC 630969

* ''Origine dell’uomo''. 1866 - Origin of man. * ''Aracnidi italiani''. 1868 - Italian

arachnid Arachnida () is a class of joint-legged invertebrate animals (arthropods), in the subphylum Chelicerata. Arachnida includes, among others, spiders, scorpions, ticks, mites, pseudoscorpions, harvestmen, camel spiders, whip spiders and vinegaroon ...

s. * ''Compendio di zoologia e anatomia comparata'', 3 volumes, 1869, 1870, 1871 - Outline of

and

. * ''Prime nozioni di antropologia''. 1878 - Basics of

anthropology Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, concerned with human behavior, human biology, cultures, societies, and linguistics, in both the present and past, including past human species. Social anthropology studies patterns of behavi ...

. * ''Apicoltura''. 1880 -

Apiculture Beekeeping (or apiculture) is the maintenance of bee colonies, commonly in man-made beehives. Honey bees in the genus '' Apis'' are the most-commonly-kept species but other honey-producing bees such as ''Melipona'' stingless bees are also kept. ...

.
''La teoria di Darwin criticamente esposta''
1880 - A critical account of Darwin’s theory * ''La teoria dell’evoluzione esposta nei suoi fondamenti''. 1887 - The theory of evolution exhibited in its foundations. * ''Antropologia''. 1888 -

Anthropology Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, concerned with human behavior, human biology, cultures, societies, and linguistics, in both the present and past, including past human species. Social anthropology studies patterns of behavi ...

. * ''Prospetto Dell’Acarofauna Italiana'', 8 volumes, 1885–1899 - Prospectus of Italian

Acari Mites are small arachnids (eight-legged arthropods). Mites span two large orders of arachnids, the Acariformes and the Parasitiformes, which were historically grouped together in the subclass Acari, but genetic analysis does not show clear evid ...

. * ''Sistema per la classe degli Acaroidei''. 1891 - System for the class of

. * ''Batteriologia''. 1896 -

Bacteriology Bacteriology is the branch and specialty of biology that studies the morphology, ecology, genetics and biochemistry of bacteria as well as many other aspects related to them. This subdivision of microbiology involves the identification, classificat ...

. Translations *Charles Darwin's ''On the Origin of Species'', 1864; ''Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals'', 1878; ''Insectivorous Plants'' 1878.

References

* ''This article is based on a translation of an article from the Italian, German and French Wikipedia.''

Career

Written works

References

Further reading