Mauro Ruscóni (18 November 1776 in

Pavia Pavia (, , , ; la, Ticinum; Medieval Latin: ) is a town and comune of south-western Lombardy in northern Italy, south of Milan on the lower Ticino river near its confluence with the Po. It has a population of c. 73,086. The city was the capit ...

- 27 March 1849 in Tremezzina) is 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 ...

and

zoologist Zoology ()The pronunciation of zoology as is usually regarded as nonstandard, though it is not uncommon. is the branch of biology that studies the Animal, animal kingdom, including the anatomy, structure, embryology, evolution, Biological clas ...

Biography

Coming from a respected merchant family, he finished his studies in his native town and in the 1790s, swept away by the political events of his time: he joined the army of the Cisalpine Republic fighting alongside the French in the

war of the Second Coalition The War of the Second Coalition (1798/9 – 1801/2, depending on periodisation) was the second war on revolutionary France by most of the European monarchies, led by Britain, Austria and Russia, and including the Ottoman Empire, Portugal, N ...

. He became an artillery captain and when the fortress of

Mantua Mantua ( ; it, Mantova ; Lombard language, Lombard and la, Mantua) is a city and ''comune'' in Lombardy, Italy, and capital of the Province of Mantua, province of the same name. In 2016, Mantua was designated as the Italian Capital of Culture ...

surrendered to the Austrians in 1799, he was in the garrison of the fortress. After a stay in Paris, he resumed his medical studies in Pavia where he obtained his doctorate in 1806 and in 1807 he was repeater in medicine at the

University of Pavia The University of Pavia ( it, Università degli Studi di Pavia, UNIPV or ''Università di Pavia''; la, Alma Ticinensis Universitas) is a university located in Pavia, Lombardy, Italy. There was evidence of teaching as early as 1361, making it one ...

, post where he was active until 1817. From 1818 onwards, he devoted himself solely to zoology.. After the events of 1848, suffering and ill, he left Pavia and went to

Lake Como Lake Como ( it, Lago di Como , ; lmo, label=Western Lombard, Lagh de Còmm , ''Cómm'' or ''Cùmm'' ), also known as Lario (; after the la, Larius Lacus), is a lake of glacial origin in Lombardy, Italy. It has an area of , making it the thir ...

, where he died some time later. His work deals with the anatomy and metamorphosis of fish, frogs, salamanders and other reptiles. He was the author of research in animal

embryology Embryology (from Greek ἔμβρυον, ''embryon'', "the unborn, embryo"; and -λογία, '' -logia'') is the branch of animal biology that studies the prenatal development of gametes (sex cells), fertilization, and development of embryos and ...

and

comparative anatomy Comparative anatomy is the study of similarities and differences in the anatomy of different species. It is closely related to evolutionary biology and phylogeny (the evolution of species). The science began in the classical era, continuing in t ...

on the reproduction of newts and on the development of the

frog A frog is any member of a diverse and largely Carnivore, carnivorous group of short-bodied, tailless amphibians composing the order (biology), order Anura (ανοὐρά, literally ''without tail'' in Ancient Greek). The oldest fossil "proto-f ...

: he was the first to observe and report exactly the segmentation of the egg as well as the formation of the morula and the

blastopore Gastrulation is the stage in the early embryonic development of most animals, during which the blastula (a single-layered hollow sphere of cells), or in mammals the blastocyst is reorganized into a multilayered structure known as the gastrula. Be ...

. Unfortunately the fact that he did not have a real academic position prevented him from having a real scientific career and getting the reputation he deserved. Moreover, despite his skill in dissecting and preparing samples, he did not leave any collections. On 23 June 1831, the

Institut de France The (; ) is a French learned society, grouping five , including the Académie Française. It was established in 1795 at the direction of the National Convention. Located on the Quai de Conti in the 6th arrondissement of Paris, the institute m ...

awarded him the gold medal for one of his works. Around 1838, the Lombard Academy had accepted him as one of its members and the Imperial Academy of Sciences in Vienna had included him among its members since its creation (1 February 1848). He was also a member of the academies of

Modena Modena (, , ; egl, label=Emilian language#Dialects, Modenese, Mòdna ; ett, Mutna; la, Mutina) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) on the south side of the Po Valley, in the Province of Modena in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern I ...

Bologna Bologna (, , ; egl, label= Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nat ...

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 ...

, Paris and the Vienna Medical Society. He was in constant scientific contact with the most important naturalists of his country of origin, but also with those of his time, such as

Georges Cuvier Jean Léopold Nicolas Frédéric, Baron Cuvier (; 23 August 1769 – 13 May 1832), known as Georges Cuvier, was a French natural history, naturalist and zoology, zoologist, sometimes referred to as the "founding father of paleontology". Cuvier ...

Lorenz Oken Lorenz Oken (1 August 1779 – 11 August 1851) was a German naturalist, botanist, biologist, and ornithologist. Oken was born Lorenz Okenfuss (german: Okenfuß) in Bohlsbach (now part of Offenburg), Ortenau, Baden, and studied natural history and ...

Works

Descrizione anatomica degli organi della circolazione delle larve delle salamandre acquatiche
(1817)

(1821) * ttps://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/101177#page/5/mode/1up Observations on the natural history and structure of the Proteus anguinus(1821)
Développement de la grenouille commune depuis le moment de sa naissance jusqu'à son état parfait
(1826)
Observations anatomiques sur la sirène : mise en parallèle avec le protée et le têtard de la salamandre aquatique
(1837)
Riflessioni sopra il sistema linfatico dei rettili
(1845)

(1854) (posthumous work)

Legacy

A street is named after him in Pavia from via Felice Cavallotti to via Siro Comi.

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rusconi, Mauro 19th-century Italian physicians University of Pavia alumni 1776 births 1849 deaths Italian zoologists People from Pavia