Giovanni Valentino Mattia Fabbroni (13 February 1752 – 17 December 1822) was an Italian naturalist,

economist An economist is a professional and practitioner in the social science discipline of economics. The individual may also study, develop, and apply theories and concepts from economics and write about economic policy. Within this field there are ...

agronomist An agriculturist, agriculturalist, agrologist, or agronomist (abbreviated as agr.), is a professional in the science, practice, and management of agriculture and agribusiness. It is a regulated profession in Canada, India, the Philippines, the U ...

and

chemist A chemist (from Greek ''chēm(ía)'' alchemy; replacing ''chymist'' from Medieval Latin ''alchemist'') is a scientist trained in the study of chemistry. Chemists study the composition of matter and its properties. Chemists carefully describe th ...

. He was born in

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico a ...

, Italy, the son of Horace and Rosalinda Werner. His mother originated in Heidelberg. In 1775 he collaborated with

Felice Fontana Abbé Gasparo Ferdinando Felice Fontana (15 April 1730 – 9 March 1805) was an Italian polymath who contributed to experimental studies in physiology, toxicology, and physics. As a physicist he discovered the water gas shift reaction in 1780. He ...

in setting up the natural history

museum A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make these ...

in Florence (''Museo di Fisica e Storia Naturale di Firenze''). From 1777 to 1778 he wrote ''Reflexions sur l'état actuel de l'agricolture'', a work which had a considerable impact on farming in

Tuscany it, Toscano (man) it, Toscana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Citizenship , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = Italian , demogra ...

. He became a member of the Accademia dei Georgofili in 1783. Fabbroni took on an increasing role in Florentine society as a proponent of

economic liberalism Economic liberalism is a political and economic ideology that supports a market economy based on individualism and private property in the means of production. Adam Smith is considered one of the primary initial writers on economic liberalism, ...

and

agrarian reform Agrarian reform can refer either, narrowly, to government-initiated or government-backed redistribution of agricultural land (see land reform) or, broadly, to an overall redirection of the agrarian system of the country, which often includes land re ...

, and was a supporter of Leopold II. He continued to write scholarly works such as ''Dell'Antracite o carbone di cava detto volgarmente carbone fossile'' (1790). During the

Napoleonic era The Napoleonic era is a period in the history of France and Europe. It is generally classified as including the fourth and final stage of the French Revolution, the first being the National Assembly, the second being the Legislativ ...

, Fabbroni was influential in the development of the

metric system The metric system is a system of measurement that succeeded the decimalised system based on the metre that had been introduced in France in the 1790s. The historical development of these systems culminated in the definition of the Internati ...

and in its introduction to Italy. He also carried out research into

electrochemistry Electrochemistry is the branch of physical chemistry concerned with the relationship between electrical potential difference, as a measurable and quantitative phenomenon, and identifiable chemical change, with the potential difference as an outco ...

, particularly into

Volta's pile upright=1.2, Schematic diagram of a copper–zinc voltaic pile. The copper and zinc discs were separated by cardboard or felt spacers soaked in salt water (the electrolyte). Volta's original piles contained an additional zinc disk at the bottom, ...

. He died in

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 city ...

, aged 70. The crater Fabbroni on the

Moon The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It is the fifth largest satellite in the Solar System and the largest and most massive relative to its parent planet, with a diameter about one-quarter that of Earth (comparable to the width of ...

is named after him. The library of the

Museo Galileo Museo Galileo, the former ''Istituto e Museo di Storia della Scienza'' (Institute and Museum of the History of Science) is located in Florence, Italy, in Piazza dei Giudici, along the River Arno and close to the Uffizi Gallery. The museum, dedicat ...

detains most of the archival documents concerning Giovanni Fabbroni: the “Fondo Fabbroni”, and the “Carte Fabbroni”. This last consists of the many letters and notes concerning the Royal Museum of Physics and Natural History of Florence, which offer access to the various activities of study and research promoted by the institute, as well as its management. From many of these documents, which Fabbroni always kept in his private archive, one can clearly follow the conflict opposing him to

. Moreover, the archival fund offers a glimpse to the political and cultural life of Tuscany at a time of profound political and institutional changes, and a precious insight to the scientific context of the 18th and 19th century.

References

External links

Archive of Museo Galileo
Scientists from Florence 1752 births 1822 deaths {{Italy-scientist-stub