Ferdinando Pio Rosellini (1814–1872) was an Italian

mathematician A mathematician is someone who uses an extensive knowledge of mathematics in their work, typically to solve mathematical problems. Mathematicians are concerned with numbers, data, quantity, structure, space, models, and change. History On ...

and

botanist Botany, also called , plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this field. The term "botany" comes from the Ancient Greek wo ...

Life and work

The son of a wealthy family of merchants of

Pescia Pescia () is an Italian city in the province of Pistoia, Tuscany, central Italy. It is located in a central zone between the cities Lucca and Florence, on the banks of the river of the same name. History Archaeological excavations have suggest ...

, his elder brother was the Egyptologist

Ippolito Rosellini Niccola Francesco Ippolito Baldassarre Rosellini, known simply as Ippolito RoselliniBardelli 1843, p. 4 (13 August 1800 – 4 June 1843) was an Italian Egyptologist. A scholar and friend of Jean-François Champollion, he is regarded as t ...

. He studied mathematics at the

University of Pisa The University of Pisa ( it, Università di Pisa, UniPi), officially founded in 1343, is one of the oldest universities in Europe. History The Origins The University of Pisa was officially founded in 1343, although various scholars place ...

, and mathematical physics at the

University of Florence The University of Florence (Italian: ''Università degli Studi di Firenze'', UniFI) is an Italian public research university located in Florence, Italy. It comprises 12 schools and has around 50,000 students enrolled. History The first universi ...

under

Leopoldo Nobili Leopoldo Nobili, born on 5 July 1784 in Trassilico (Toscana) and died on 22 August 1835 in Florence, was an Italian physicist who invented a number of instruments critical to investigating thermodynamics and electrochemistry. Born Trassilico, G ...

. From 1836 he was the tutor for the four sons of Giorgio Doria in

Genoa Genoa ( ; it, Genova ; lij, Zêna ). is the capital of the Italian region of Liguria and the List of cities in Italy, sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015, 594,733 people lived within the city's administrative limits. As of the 2011 Italian ce ...

; one of them became the known botanist

Giacomo Doria Marquis Giacomo Doria (1 November 1840 – 19 September 1913) was an Italian naturalist, botanist, herpetologist, and politician. He was the founder of the Museo Civico di Storia Naturale in Genoa in 1867, and director from then until his d ...

, the namesake of the Natural History Museum of Genoa. In 1844, botanist

Giuseppe De Notaris Giuseppe De Notaris (18 April 1805, Milan – 22 January 1877) was an Italian botanist generally known for his work with cryptogams native to Italy. He studied medicine at the University of Pavia, obtaining his medical degree in 1830. Having deve ...

published a genus of

fungi A fungus ( : fungi or funguses) is any member of the group of eukaryotic organisms that includes microorganisms such as yeasts and molds, as well as the more familiar mushrooms. These organisms are classified as a kingdom, separately from ...

, in the family

Xylariaceae The Xylariaceae are a family of mostly small ascomycetous fungi. It is one of the most commonly encountered groups of ascomycetes and is found throughout the temperate and tropical regions of the world. They are typically found on wood, seeds, f ...

, called ''

Rosellinia ''Rosellinia'' is a genus of fungi in the family Xylariaceae consisting of over 90 species. Several of the species in this genus are plant pathogens. Fossils of ''Rosellinia'' have been found in 12 million year old rocks from central England. The ...

'' in Ferdinando's honour. In 1846, three years after the death of his brother Ippolito, he married his widow and adopted his three sons: Eugenio, Angela and Giovanbattista. In 1848, during the Revolutionary period, he was very active in politics; he was a member of the Circolo Patriottico Milanese, and editor of the political journal ''La Croce di Savoia''. In 1853 he was appointed director of the ''Istituto di Commercio e Industria'' of

Turin Turin ( , Piedmontese language, Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital ...

, founded by Cavour. From 1859 he was director of ''Istituto Tecnico Leardi'' in

Casale Monferrato Casale Monferrato () is a town in the Piedmont region of Italy, in the province of Alessandria. It is situated about east of Turin on the right bank of the Po, where the river runs at the foot of the Montferrat hills. Beyond the river lies the v ...

where he had as a student a young

Vilfredo Pareto Vilfredo Federico Damaso Pareto ( , , , ; born Wilfried Fritz Pareto; 15 July 1848 – 19 August 1923) was an Italian polymath (civil engineer, sociologist, economist, political scientist, and philosopher). He made several important contribut ...

. After his death in 1872, his herbarium and manuscripts remained in the 'Istituto'. In 1921, botanist Edvard August Vainio published '' Roselliniella'' a genus of

, (in the

Hypocreales The Hypocreales are an order of fungi within the class Sordariomycetes. In 2008, it was estimated that it contained some 237 genera, and 2647 species in seven families. Since then, a considerable number of further taxa have been identified, in ...

order). Then in 1986, botanist

Rolf Santesson Rolf Santesson (1916–2013) was a Swedish lichenologist and university lecturer. He was awarded the Acharius Medal in 1992 for his lifetime contributions to lichenology. Early life and education Santesson was born in 1916 in Trollhättan, Swe ...

published '' Rosellinula'' a genus of

, (in the class

Dothideomycetes Dothideomycetes is the largest and most diverse class of ascomycete fungi. It comprises 11 orders 90 families, 1300 genera and over 19,000 known species. Traditionally, most of its members were included in the loculoascomycetes, which is not par ...

). Lastly, in 1990,

Mario Matzer is a character created by Japanese video game designer Shigeru Miyamoto. He is the title character of the ''Mario'' franchise and the mascot of Japanese video game company Nintendo. Mario has appeared in over 200 video games since his creat ...

and

Josef Hafellner Josef Hafellner (1951– ) is an Austrian mycologist and lichenologist. He was awarded the Acharius Medal in 2016 for his lifetime contributions to lichenology. Before his retirement, he was a professor at the Karl-Franzens-Universität in Graz ...

published both '' Roselliniomyces'' and '' Roselliniopsis'' (two fungi genera from order

Sordariales The order Sordariales is one of the most diverse taxonomic groups within the Sordariomycetes (subdivision Pezizomycotina, division Ascomycota). Species in the order Sordariales have a broad range of ecological diversity, containing lignicolous, ...

), also named in Ferdinando Pio Rosellini's honour.

References

Bibliography

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External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Rosellini, Ferdinando Pio 1814 births 1872 deaths 19th-century Italian mathematicians 19th-century Italian botanists University of Pisa alumni University of Florence alumni People from Pisa