Giuseppe Saverio Poli (26 October 17467 April 1825) was an
Italian
Italian(s) may refer to:
* Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries
** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom
** Italian language, a Romance language
*** Regional Ita ...
physicist
A physicist is a scientist who specializes in the field of physics, which encompasses the interactions of matter and energy at all length and time scales in the physical universe.
Physicists generally are interested in the root or ultimate cau ...
,
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
natural historian.
His collections, together with those stored in the
Royal Bourbon Museum, were the foundation of the
Zoological Museum of Naples
The Zoological Museum of Naples, located in Naples, south Italy, was founded by Gioacchino Murat in 1811. The first curator was Luigi Petagna. The founding collections were those of the Royal Bourbon Museum and the private collection of Giusepp ...
.
The specimens were from locations all over the world, and included especially,
Lepidoptera,
Cnidaria
Cnidaria () is a phylum under kingdom Animalia containing over 11,000 species of aquatic animals found both in freshwater and marine environments, predominantly the latter.
Their distinguishing feature is cnidocytes, specialized cells that ...
and
Mollusca.
[
]
Biography
Giuseppe Saverio Poli was born in 1746 and was the son of Vito Angelo di Giuseppe and Eleonora Corlè. In 1766 he enrolled 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 ...
, where he graduated in medicine. He briefly worked as a doctor in Molfetta, but in 1790 he moved to Naples to teach history and geography at the Nunziatella Military School
The Nunziatella Military School of Naples, Italy, founded November 18, 1787 under the name of ''Royal Military Academy'' (it.: ''Reale Accademia Militare''), is the oldest Italian institution of military education among those still operating. Its b ...
, for which, once he became commander, with the rank of lieutenant colonel, he took care of the department of physics. In 1775 he toured Europe on behalf of the academy, visiting many seats of learning in Germany, France, England and the Netherlands and meeting naturalists and scientists. This enabled him to equip the physics department with the most modern equipment. He became friends with the Scottish physician and collector William Hunter, who encouraged him to study the molluscs of the Mediterranean, which were then very poorly known. He also added to his personal collection of natural history objects and archaeological artifacts. Later he taught physics at the Medical College of the Hospital of the Incurables, a position which he had to give up when he was appointed tutor to the hereditary prince, Francesco
Francesco, the Italian (and original) version of the personal name " Francis", is the most common given name among males in Italy. Notable persons with that name include:
People with the given name Francesco
* Francesco I (disambiguation), sev ...
, son of Ferdinand I of Bourbon. He later became professor of experimental physics at the University of Naples
The University of Naples Federico II ( it, Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II) is a public university in Naples, Italy. Founded in 1224, it is the oldest public non-sectarian university in the world, and is now organized into 26 depar ...
, of which he was first director of physics.[
His best known work is represented by the six volumes of the ''Elements of Experimental Physics'', which had numerous editions and reprints and was modified and integrated on several occasions by Poli himself. The work was used by Alessandro Volta for his university lectures and was even read and studied by ]Giacomo Leopardi
Count Giacomo Taldegardo Francesco di Sales Saverio Pietro Leopardi (, ; 29 June 1798 – 14 June 1837) was an Italian philosopher, poet, essayist, and philologist. He is considered the greatest Italian poet of the nineteenth century and one of ...
. It has also been criticized by Vincenzo Dandolo
Count Vincenzo Dandolo (1758–1819) was an Italian chemist and agriculturist. He was born in Venice of good family, though not of the same house as the famous doges, and began his career as a physician.
He was a prominent opponent of the oligar ...
, as in the 1790s it still introduced phlogiston
The phlogiston theory is a superseded scientific theory that postulated the existence of a fire-like element called phlogiston () contained within combustible bodies and released during combustion. The name comes from the Ancient Greek (''burni ...
in the part relating to chemical reactions (volume III), which had already been widely recognized as non-existent by most scientists (the part relating to chemical reactions was preceded by an introduction by Dandolo himself, which explained the partial defects of the work). The changes made in the editions of the following years were to deny the existence of phlogiston even in his own work.
Thanks to his many travels, which put him in contact and correspondence with authoritative exponents of the international scientific world, he published numerous essays on various topics: not only relating to physics, but also to meteorology, in particular with the treatises on thunder (1772) and on lightning (1773), geology and zoology. Testimony of this last discipline remains the monumental ''Testacea utriusque Siciliane eorumque istoria et antome tabulis aeneis'', a description of the molluscs of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, begun with the help of his assistant Stefano Delle Chiaje, who collaborated in its publication. Poli was responsible for the discovery of the interradial vesicles of the water vascular system of echinoderms, which are known as "Polian vesicles".[
He also tried his hand at poetry, with hymns and poems, of which the Celestial Journey, composed in two volumes, in 1805 provides a good example. He was a member of numerous scientific and cultural institutions, including the National Academy of Sciences.][ After a year in which his health deteriorated, Poli died in Naples on 7 April 1825. His personal collection of natural history objects and archaeological artefacts, amassed since the 1770s, was known by his friends as the ''Museo Poliano''. They included minerals, fossils, mollusc shells, corals, sponges, insects (including a fine collection from Surinam), weapons, clothing, indigenous tools, paintings and scientific instruments. The more valuable items in the collection were looted by French troops during the conquest of Naples in 1806, and he later turned to collecting coins, medals and antiquities. After his death, these were curated by Delle Chiaie and acquired by the Royal Bourbon Museum and, along with his natural history collection, formed the foundation of the ]Zoological Museum of Naples
The Zoological Museum of Naples, located in Naples, south Italy, was founded by Gioacchino Murat in 1811. The first curator was Luigi Petagna. The founding collections were those of the Royal Bourbon Museum and the private collection of Giusepp ...
.[
]
Works
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* ''Riflessioni intorno agli effetti di alcuni fulmini'', Campo, Napoli 1773.
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* ''Breve saggio sulla calamita e sulla sua virtù medicinale'', Stamperia Reale, Palermo 1811.
Works about Giuseppe Saverio Poli
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Bibliography
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References
External links
Short account of Poli
in Italian
{{DEFAULTSORT:Poli, Giuseppe Saverio
1746 births
1825 deaths
People from Molfetta
Italian entomologists
Italian zoologists
18th-century Italian scientists
Conchologists
19th-century Italian scientists