Edoardo Zavattari (21 October 1883,
Tortona
Tortona (; pms, Torton-a , ; lat, Dhertona) is a ''comune'' of Piemonte, in the Province of Alessandria, Italy. Tortona is sited on the right bank of the Scrivia between the plain of Marengo and the foothills of the Ligurian Apennines.
History ...
– 17 February 1972)
(born 21 October 1883 in Tortona, in the province of Alexandria, in Piedmont and died on 17 February 1972 in Genoa) was an Italian
zoologist
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 kingdom, including the structure, embryology, evolution, classification, habits, and d ...
who was a director at the Institute of Zoology in the
Sapienza University of Rome
The Sapienza University of Rome ( it, Sapienza – Università di Roma), also called simply Sapienza or the University of Rome, and formally the Università degli Studi di Roma "La Sapienza", is a public research university located in Rome, Ita ...
from 1935 to 1953.
He supported
fascism
Fascism is a far-right, authoritarian, ultra-nationalist political ideology and movement,: "extreme militaristic nationalism, contempt for electoral democracy and political and cultural liberalism, a belief in natural social hierarchy an ...
and
anti-semitism
Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism.
Antis ...
on the basis of his ideas from biology and was a signatory to the "
Manifesto della Razza".
Biography
His first academic role was as a professor at the
University of Pavia
The University of Pavia ( it, Università degli Studi di Pavia, UNIPV or ''Università di Pavia''; la, Alma Ticinensis Universitas) is a university located in Pavia, Lombardy, Italy. There was evidence of teaching as early as 1361, making it one ...
and then at the
University of Rome, Edoardo Zavattari was the author of more than 300 scientific publications. Between 1926 and 1959, he made several expeditions, visiting all the continents for research, in particular in the North-Eastern Africa. The specimens he collected, were placed into 122 packages, two of which are now part of the collection of the ''
Museo Civico di Zoologia
The Museo Civico di Zoologia is a natural history museum in Rome, central Italy. It is situated next to the Bioparc (Zoo) and can be entered by the Zoo or through the entrance on via Ulisse Aldrovandi. Founded in 1932, it is said to continue th ...
'' in Rome. In particular, he published ''Prodromo della fauna della Libia'' (1934).
While he was director of the Institute of Zoology in the Capitoline Athenaeum from 1935 to 1958, the Institute's work on animal systematics was revived.
In the twenties and thirties of the twentieth century Zavattari was a supported of the regime of
Benito Mussolini and the
National Fascist Party
The National Fascist Party ( it, Partito Nazionale Fascista, PNF) was a political party in Italy, created by Benito Mussolini as the political expression of Italian Fascism and as a reorganization of the previous Italian Fasces of Combat. Th ...
and their theories on biological racism. In 1928, at the inauguration of the academic year at the University of Pavia, he pronounced himself for a strict separation between "superior race and dominated race". In 1938, he was one of the ten signatories of the Manifesto of racist scientists whose text, enriched by Guido Landra but conceived and modified by Mussolini, was presented as the founding act of the fascists' racial laws. Zavattari wrote several articles in the magazine ''La Difesa della Razza'', which was edited by the extreme anti-semite
Telesio Interlandi
Telesio Interlandi (20 October 1894 – 15 January 1965) was an Italian journalist and propagandist. He was one of the leading advocates of antisemitism in Fascist Italy.
Born in Chiaramonte Gulfi, Interlandi took his degree in law and became a ...
.
Zavattari was a member of the Italian Entomological Society (''Società Entomologica Italiana'') for more than thirty years (from 1937 to 1969) and was a member of the National Academy of Sciences (''Accademia nazionale delle scienza'') from 1951.
Writings
* Zavattari, Edoardo (1940) Ambiente naturale e caratteri razziali. La Difesa della razza 3(9):49.
* Zavattari, Edoardo (1938) Politica ed etica razziale. Vita Universitaria. 3.
* Zavattari, Edoardo (1937) "Le basi biologiche di faschmo. Critica medico-sociale, no. 6:21-18.
References
External links
Museum of Zoology, Rome
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zavattari, Edoardo
1883 births
1972 deaths
20th-century Italian zoologists