Francesco Serao (20 September 1702 - 5 August 1783) was an Italian

physician A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through th ...

, physicist, geologist, philosopher and scholar. He was born in

San Cipriano d'Aversa San Cipriano d'Aversa () is an Italian commune and municipality in the Province of Caserta, region of Campania, located about northwest of Naples and about southwest of Caserta. The town is located on the territory of Agro aversano - a rural area ...

and died in

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adm ...

, Italy.

Biography

Thanks to his maternal uncle, Don Antonio Forno, Serao was taught by the

Jesuit , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders ...

s in Naples. He followed the thinking of Descartes. At eighteen, he graduated in medicine and in 1727 he was awarded the

chair A chair is a type of seat, typically designed for one person and consisting of one or more legs, a flat or slightly angled seat and a back-rest. They may be made of wood, metal, or synthetic materials, and may be padded or upholstered in vari ...

of theoretical medicine. In 1732 he was professor of anatomy, then of medicine. He was a member of the Royal Academy or Academy of Sciences of Naples with his teacher Niccolò Cirillo and was a member of the Academy of Sciences of Paris, of the London Academy, of the Benedictine University of Bologna and of other important scientific and literary groups in Europe. He translated

John Pringle John Pringle may refer to: *John Pringle, Lord Haining (c. 1674–1754), Scottish landowner, judge and politician, shire commissioner for Selkirk 1702–07, MP for Selkirkshire 1708–29, Lord of Session *Sir John Pringle, 1st Baronet (1707–1782) ...

's medical works into Italian. Serao was chief physician of the

Kingdom of Naples The Kingdom of Naples ( la, Regnum Neapolitanum; it, Regno di Napoli; nap, Regno 'e Napule), also known as the Kingdom of Sicily, was a state that ruled the part of the Italian Peninsula south of the Papal States between 1282 and 1816. It was ...

and physician to King Ferdinand IV of Bourbon. Serao died in 1783 and was buried in the church of Monteverginella in Naples.

Works

*''Vita Nicolai Cirilli'', 1738 *''De suffocatis ad vitam revocandis'', 1775 *''Consilia medica'' *''Epistula ad Ioannonem Brunum sulla peste'' *''De Castrensibus morbis'' *''Istoria dell'incendio del Vesuvio accaduto nel mese di maggio 1737'', Naples, published by Novello de Bonis, also translated into French and English in 1738 *''Lezioni accademiche sulla tarantola'', 1742 *''Saggio di considerazioni anatomiche fatte su di un leone; Descrizione dell'elefante, Osservazioni sopra un fenomeno occorso nell'aprire un cinghiale'', Naples, published by Giuseppe De Bonis,

References

External links

''Vesuvius Erupts, 1738''
a summary of Serao's observations of

Mount Vesuvius Mount Vesuvius ( ; it, Vesuvio ; nap, 'O Vesuvio , also or ; la, Vesuvius , also , or ) is a somma-stratovolcano located on the Gulf of Naples in Campania, Italy, about east of Naples and a short distance from the shore. It is one of ...

— ''Volcanoes, Basalt, and the Discovery of Geological Time'' An Exhibition of Rare Publications from the Collections of the Linda Hall Library
''Istoria dell'incendio del Vesuvio accaduto nel mese di maggio 1737''
at archive.org {{DEFAULTSORT:Serao, Francesco 18th-century Italian physicians 18th-century Italian geologists University of Bologna faculty 18th-century Italian physicists 18th-century Italian philosophers 1702 births 1783 deaths

Biography

Works

See also

References

External links