Michele Gortani (16 January 1883 – 24 January 1966) was an Italian geologist, entomologist, and politician. He was a specialist on the Carnian Alps where he grew up and worked for much of his life. Gortani was born in Friuli to engineer Luigi and Angela Grassi in

Lugo Lugo (, ; la, Lucus Augusti) is a city in northwestern Spain in the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Galicia (Spain), Galicia. It is the capital of the Lugo (province), province of Lugo. The municipality had a population ...

, Spain where his father then worked. He was educated at

Udine Udine ( , ; fur, Udin; la, Utinum) is a city and ''comune'' in north-eastern Italy, in the middle of the Friuli Venezia Giulia region, between the Adriatic Sea and the Alps (''Alpi Carniche''). Its population was 100,514 in 2012, 176,000 with t ...

before joining

Bologna University The University of Bologna ( it, Alma Mater Studiorum – Università di Bologna, UNIBO) is a public research university in Bologna, Italy. Founded in 1088 by an organised guild of students (''studiorum''), it is the oldest university in continuo ...

, graduating in 1904. He was keenly interested in the Alpine region of Carnia, taking an interest in flora, paleontology, and entomology. He published on the fossils of Carnia while still a student in 1902. He worked as a geological assistant at Perrugia University in 1905 and at Bologna from 1906 to 1910, and Turin (1911–1913). He married Maria Gentile Mencucci from

Zuglio Zuglio ( fur, Zui) is a ''comune'' (municipality), former bishopric and Latin Catholic titular see in the Province of Udine in the northeastern Italian autonomous region Friuli-Venezia Giulia, located about northwest of Trieste and about northwes ...

in 1911. He became a professor at Pisa University in 1913 and also became a deputy in the Italian parliament in the same year. He volunteered in the Alpini (Alpine troops) during World War I and was court-martialled for criticising the Italian Army command for their poor planning. He was involved in helping refugees in the Carnia following their invasion in 1917. In 1922 he was made chair of geology at the

University of Cagliari The University of Cagliari ( it, Università degli Studi di Cagliari) is a university in Cagliari, Sardinia, Italy. It was founded in 1606 and is organized in 11 faculties. History The ''Studium Generalis Kalaritanum'' was founded in 1606 alon ...

. He studied the limestone fauna at Bellerophon and published extensively. He also examined cave faunas in the region. He published on the beetles of the region. He studied Paleozoic fossils from the Karakoram and in 1936–1938 went on expeditions to the Italian colonial regions of Ethiopia and Eritrea. He published a textbook of geology ''Compendio di geologia'' (1946–1948). He served as a member of the Christian Democratic Party in the Italian Assembly from 1948 to 1953 and was instrumental in the production of geological map of Italy (which was completed in 1970). He helped establish the ''Museo delle Arti e delle Tradizioni Popolari Carniche''. He died at Tolmezzo.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gortani, Michele 20th-century Italian geologists Italian entomologists Italian politicians 1883 births 1966 deaths