Vittorio Simonelli (May 1860, in Arezzo – 9 February 1929, in

San Quirico d'Orcia San Quirico d'Orcia is a ''comune'' (municipality) of about 2,500 inhabitants in the Province of Siena in the Italian region Tuscany, located about southeast of Florence and about southeast of Siena inside the Valdorcia landscape. It is named i ...

) was an Italian

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, althoug ...

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

He studied natural sciences 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 ...

as a pupil of Giuseppe Meneghini. From 1883 he taught classes in

physical geography Physical geography (also known as physiography) is one of the three main branches of geography. Physical geography is the branch of natural science which deals with the processes and patterns in the natural environment such as the atmosphere, ...

at Pisa, later travelling to

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Ha ...

, where in 1889/90 he studied paleontology with

Karl von Zittel Karl Alfred Ritter von Zittel (25 September 1839 – 5 January 1904) was a German palaeontologist best known for his ''Handbuch der Palaeontologie'' (1876–1880). Biography Karl Alfred von Zittel was born in Bahlingen in the Grand Duchy ...

and

August Rothpletz Friedrich August Rothpletz (28 April 1853, in Neustadt an der Haardt – 27 January 1918, in Oberstdorf) was a German geologist and paleontologist. Biography From 1875 to 1880 he conducted geological mapping in Saxony as part of the ''Sächsisch ...

. From 1891 to 1895 he was an assistant to the chair of geology at the

University of Bologna 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 continu ...

, then relocated to

University of Parma The University of Parma ( it, Università degli Studi di Parma, UNIPR) is a public university in Parma, Emilia-Romagna, Italy. It is organised in nine departments. As of 2016 the University of Parma has about 26,000 students. History During the ...

as an instructor of geology and mineralogy.Vittorio Simonelli - Archivio Storico dell'Università di Bologna
(biography) In 1903 he returned to Bologna as a teacher of geology at the Royal School of Engineers ("''Regia Scuola d'Applicazione per gli Ingegneri''"), and during the following year took on additional duties as an instructor of geology and mineralogy at the Royal School of Agriculture ("''Regia Scuola Superiore di Agraria''"), also in Bologna. In 1904

Giovanni Capellini Giovanni Capellini (23 August 1833 – 28 May 1922) was an Italian geologist and paleontologist. He was a Senator of the Kingdom of Italy in the seventeenth legislature. Birth and education Giovanni Capellini was born on 23 August 1833 in L ...

appointed Simonelli as

curator A curator (from la, cura, meaning "to take care") is a manager or overseer. When working with cultural organizations, a curator is typically a "collections curator" or an "exhibitions curator", and has multifaceted tasks dependent on the parti ...

of the ''Museo Geologico'' at the university. During his career, he travelled widely, taking scientific trips throughout Italy, and to

Crete Crete ( el, Κρήτη, translit=, Modern: , Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the 88th largest island in the world and the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, Sardinia, Cyprus, ...

, Cephalonia,

Podolia Podolia or Podilia ( uk, Поділля, Podillia, ; russian: Подолье, Podolye; ro, Podolia; pl, Podole; german: Podolien; be, Падолле, Padollie; lt, Podolė), is a historic region in Eastern Europe, located in the west-central ...

, Palestine, Galicia and

North Africa North Africa, or Northern Africa is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region, and it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of Mauritania in ...

. In 1893 he was the first to identify the remains of prehistoric

elephant Elephants are the largest existing land animals. Three living species are currently recognised: the African bush elephant, the African forest elephant, and the Asian elephant. They are the only surviving members of the family Elephantidae ...

s on Crete, being located in three cave sites near the city of

Rethymno Rethymno ( el, Ρέθυμνο, , also ''Rethimno'', ''Rethymnon'', ''Réthymnon'', and ''Rhíthymnos'') is a city in Greece on the island of Crete. It is the capital of Rethymno regional unit, and has a population of more than 30,000 inhabitants ...

. Also on Crete he discovered the remains of prehistoric deer, which he described as ''Anoglochis cretensis''. The mineral

simonellite Simonellite (1,1-dimethyl-1,2,3,4-tetrahydro-7-isopropyl phenanthrene) is a polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon with a chemical formula C19H24. It is similar to retene. Simonellite occurs naturally as an organic mineral derived from diterpenes presen ...

commemorates his name.

Published works

He was the author of sixty published works that included treatises on the geology of

Monte Cetona The Monte Cetona is a mountain located in the southern Tuscany region of Italy. Features The mountain stands near the SE border of the province of Siena, and closes the long, hilly ridge which divides val d'Orcia from val di Chiana. It belon ...

, fossils of

La Verna La Verna ( la, Alverna is a locality on Mount Penna ( it, Monte Penna), an isolated mountain of situated in the centre of the Tuscan Apennines, rising above the valley of the Casentino, central Italy. The place is known especially for its ass ...

and the geology of

Heraklion Heraklion or Iraklion ( ; el, Ηράκλειο, , ) is the largest city and the administrative capital of the island of Crete and capital of Heraklion regional unit. It is the fourth largest city in Greece with a population of 211,370 (Urban Ar ...

, to name a few. He was a founding editor, with

Carlo Fornasini ''Cavaliere dottore'' Carlo Fornasini (3 November 185424 December 1931) was an Italian micropalaeontologist who specialised in Foraminifera ('forams'). He was a pioneer in using fossil forams to sequence marine sedimentary deposits by their rel ...

, of the journal ''Rivista italiana di paleontologia''. The following are some of his significant writings: * ''Il Monte della Verna e i suoi fossili'', 1884. * ''Terreni e fossili dell'isola di Pianosa nel mar Tirreno'', 1889. * ''Dei recenti studi geologici e paleontologici sul territorio senese'', 1895. * ''Antozoi neogenici del Museo Parmense'', 1896. * ''Candia : ricordi di escursione'', 1897. * ''Die marinen Ablagerungen auf Gran Canaria'', 1898 (in German, with

). * ''Le fosforiti di Terra d'Otranto'', 1919 * ''Cenni sopra alcuni giacimenti fosfatiferi della Galizia, della Podolia e della Palestina'', 1919.Most widely held works by Vittorio Simonelli
at WorldCat Identities

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Simonelli, Vittorio 1860 births 1929 deaths People from Arezzo University of Pisa alumni Italian paleontologists 19th-century Italian geologists Italian mineralogists 20th-century Italian geologists