Giuseppe Giovanni Antonio Meneghini (30 July 1811,

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 ...

– 29 January 1889,

Pisa Pisa ( , or ) is a city and ''comune'' in Tuscany, central Italy, straddling the Arno just before it empties into the Ligurian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Pisa. Although Pisa is known worldwide for its leaning tower, the cit ...

) was an Italian

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 ...

geologist A geologist is a scientist who studies the solid, liquid, and gaseous matter that constitutes Earth and other terrestrial planets, as well as the processes that shape them. Geologists usually study geology, earth science, or geophysics, althou ...

and

paleontologist Paleontology (), also spelled palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of life that existed prior to, and sometimes including, the start of the Holocene epoch (roughly 11,700 years before present). It includes the study of fossi ...

Biography

Meneghini became interested in science under his school teacher Pietro Melo. Following school he joined the medical course 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 1829-30 and obtained his medical doctorate in 1834 with a thesis on the cephalo-spinal axis and the following year, he became an assistant to Giuseppe Antonio Bonato, the chair of

botany 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 w ...

. In 1839 he was appointed professor of preparatory sciences at Padua, a position he maintained up until 1848, when he was removed from his post due to his association with revolutionaries during the

First Italian War of Independence The First Italian War of Independence ( it, Prima guerra d'indipendenza italiana), part of the Italian Unification (''Risorgimento''), was fought by the Kingdom of Sardinia (Piedmont) and Italian volunteers against the Austrian Empire and other ...

, in which he followed the leadership of his brother Andrea. He then went into exile to Bologna followed by Pistoia and then Florence. In 1849 he became a professor of

mineralogy Mineralogy is a subject of geology specializing in the scientific study of the chemistry, crystal structure, and physical (including optical) properties of minerals and mineralized artifacts. Specific studies within mineralogy include the proces ...

and

geology Geology () is a branch of natural science concerned with Earth and other astronomical objects, the features or rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Modern geology significantly overlaps all other Ear ...

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 ...

, where the position had become vacant after the death of Leopoldo Pilla (1805–1848), who was killed in the battle of

Curtatone Curtatone (Mantovano: ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Mantua in the Italian region Lombardy, located about southeast of Milan and about southwest of Mantua. The municipality of Curtatone is formed by the ''frazioni'' (subdivi ...

. He then became director of the geological cabinet. In 1874 the chair of mineralogy and geology was split into two entities, with Antonio D'Achiardi (1839–1902) receiving the chair of mineralogy, leaving Meneghini with the chair of geology.The American Journal of Science
(obituary)Collected papers, Volume 1
by

William Thomas Blanford William Thomas Blanford (7 October 183223 June 1905) was an English geologist and naturalist. He is best remembered as the editor of a major series on ''The Fauna of British India, Including Ceylon and Burma''. Biography Blanford was born ...

He made contributions in his studies involving the geology of

Tuscany Tuscany ( ; it, Toscana ) is a Regions of Italy, region in central Italy with an area of about and a population of about 3.8 million inhabitants. The regional capital is Florence (''Firenze''). Tuscany is known for its landscapes, history, art ...

, identifying Triassic

fossil A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved ...

s and worked across Italy and

Sardinia Sardinia ( ; it, Sardegna, label=Italian, Corsican and Tabarchino ; sc, Sardigna , sdc, Sardhigna; french: Sardaigne; sdn, Saldigna; ca, Sardenya, label=Algherese and Catalan) is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after ...

, including

Cambrian The Cambrian Period ( ; sometimes symbolized C with bar, Ꞓ) was the first geological period of the Paleozoic Era, and of the Phanerozoic Eon. The Cambrian lasted 53.4 million years from the end of the preceding Ediacaran Period 538.8 million ...

Period

trilobite Trilobites (; meaning "three lobes") are extinct marine arthropods that form the class Trilobita. Trilobites form one of the earliest-known groups of arthropods. The first appearance of trilobites in the fossil record defines the base of the At ...

s found in Sardinia and

ammonite Ammonoids are a group of extinct marine mollusc animals in the subclass Ammonoidea of the class Cephalopoda. These molluscs, commonly referred to as ammonites, are more closely related to living coleoids (i.e., octopuses, squid and cuttlefish) ...

s uncovered in

Lombardy Lombardy ( it, Lombardia, Lombard language, Lombard: ''Lombardia'' or ''Lumbardia' '') is an administrative regions of Italy, region of Italy that covers ; it is located in the northern-central part of the country and has a population of about 10 ...

and the

Apennines The Apennines or Apennine Mountains (; grc-gre, links=no, Ἀπέννινα ὄρη or Ἀπέννινον ὄρος; la, Appenninus or – a singular with plural meaning;''Apenninus'' (Greek or ) has the form of an adjective, which wou ...

. He described nearly 560 fossil taxa and was involved in alpine stratigraphy and mapping. He headed the Italian Geological Committee from 1879 until his death. In 1860 he became a member of the ''Académie nationale des sciences''. In 1874 he was elected founding president of the ''Societa Toscana di Scienze Naturali'', and for a period of time, also served as president of the Italian Geological Society. In 1886, he was named as a senator of the 16th legislature of the

Kingdom of Italy The Kingdom of Italy ( it, Regno d'Italia) was a state that existed from 1861, when Victor Emmanuel II of Kingdom of Sardinia, Sardinia was proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy, proclaimed King of Italy, until 1946, when civil discontent led to ...

. That same year, he was elected as a member to the

American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS), founded in 1743 in Philadelphia, is a scholarly organization that promotes knowledge in the sciences and humanities through research, professional meetings, publications, library resources, and communit ...

. Meneghini died in Pisa. The mineral

meneghinite Meneghinite is a sulfosalt mineral with the chemical formula CuPb13 Sb7S24. In the orthorhombic crystal system, meneghinite has a Mohs hardness of , one perfect cleavage and a conchoidal fracture. It is a blackish lead-grey in colour and gives a ...

is named after him. In 1839 the botanical genus ''Meneghinia'' (family

Boraginaceae Boraginaceae, the borage or forget-me-not family, includes about 2,000 species of shrubs, trees and herbs in 146, to 156 genera with a worldwide distribution. The APG IV system from 2016 classifies the Boraginaceae as single family of the order ...

) was named in his honor by

Stephan Endlicher Stephan Ladislaus Endlicher also known as Endlicher István László (24 June 1804, Bratislava (Pozsony) – 28 March 1849, Vienna) was an Austrian botanist, numismatist and Sinologist. He was a director of the Botanical Garden of Vienna. Bio ...

. It is now a synonym of ''

Arnebia ''Arnebia'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Boraginaceae. There are about 38 species, most are located in the Mediterranean region and eastwards to the Himalayas and one species extending down to tropical Africa. The generic name " ...

Selected works

* ''Ricerche sulla struttura del caule nelle piante monocotiledoni'', 1836. * ''Alghe italiane e dalmatiche illustrate'', 1842. * ''Sulla teorie de' Meritalli di Gaudichaud'', 1844. * ''Sulla animalità delle diatomee e revisione organografica dei generi di diatomee stabiliti dal Kützing'', 1846 (translated into English and published in 1853 as "On the animal nature of Diatomeæ : with an organographical revision of the genera, established by Kützing"; referring to German botanist

Friedrich Traugott Kützing Friedrich Traugott Kützing (8 December 1807 in Kalbsrieth, Ritteburg – 9 September 1893) was a German pharmacist, botanist and phycologist. Despite his limited background in regard to higher education, Kützing made significant scientific con ...

). * ''Osservazioni stratigrafiche e paleontologiche concernenti la geologia della Toscana e dei paesi limitrofi'', 1851 (with

Paolo Savi Paolo Savi (11 July 1798 – 5 April 1871) was an Italian geologist and ornithologist. Biography Savi was born in Pisa, the son of Gaetano Savi, professor of botany at the University of Pisa. The younger Savi became assistant lecturer in zoolo ...

). * ''Paleontologie de l'ile de Sardaigne'', 1857. * ''Monographie des fossiles du calcaire rouge ammonitique (lias supérieur) de Lombardie et de l'Appennin central'', 1867.HathiTrust Digital Library
published works

References

External links

Commemorazione di Giuseppè Meneghini fatta nell'aula magna dell'Università Pisana ai XXIV Marzo MDCCCLXXXIX
(1889) (in Italian) {{DEFAULTSORT:Meneghini, Giuseppe Giovanni Antonio 1811 births 1889 deaths 19th-century Italian geologists Italian naturalists Italian mineralogists Italian paleontologists Scientists from Padua Academic staff of the University of Pisa Academic staff of the University of Padua University of Padua alumni Recipients of the Pour le Mérite (civil class) Members of the American Philosophical Society