Nicolò Vito di Gozzi ( la, Nicolai Viti Gozzii, 1549–1610), Niko Vita Gozze, or Nikola Gučetić was a Ragusan statesman, philosopher, science writer and author of one of the first scientific dissertations regarding

speleology Speleology is the scientific study of caves and other karst features, as well as their make-up, structure, physical properties, history, life forms, and the processes by which they form ( speleogenesis) and change over time (speleomorphology) ...

Life

Gučetić was born in Ragusa (now

Dubrovnik Dubrovnik (), historically known as Ragusa (; see notes on naming), is a city on the Adriatic Sea in the region of Dalmatia, in the southeastern semi-exclave of Croatia. It is one of the most prominent tourist destinations in the Mediterran ...

Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capit ...

), into the Gozze (Gučetić) noble family, being kin of the earlier writer Đivo Gučetić (1451–1502). He received most of his

education Education is a purposeful activity directed at achieving certain aims, such as transmitting knowledge or fostering skills and character traits. These aims may include the development of understanding, rationality, kindness, and honesty ...

in Dubrovnik and in

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

. He was the central person in the cultural life in Dubrovnik in his time and owned probably the biggest private

library A library is a collection of materials, books or media that are accessible for use and not just for display purposes. A library provides physical (hard copies) or digital access (soft copies) materials, and may be a physical location or a vir ...

in town. Rarely traveling outside the limits of town, he was occupied by

trade Trade involves the transfer of goods and services from one person or entity to another, often in exchange for money. Economists refer to a system or network that allows trade as a market. An early form of trade, barter, saw the direct excha ...

finances Finance is the study and discipline of money, currency and capital assets. It is related to, but not synonymous with economics, the study of production, distribution, and consumption of money, assets, goods and services (the discipline of fin ...

, and other official duties for the

city-state A city-state is an independent sovereign city which serves as the center of political, economic, and cultural life over its contiguous territory. They have existed in many parts of the world since the dawn of history, including cities such as ...

. Elected

Rector Rector (Latin for the member of a vessel's crew who steers) may refer to: Style or title *Rector (ecclesiastical), a cleric who functions as an administrative leader in some Christian denominations *Rector (academia), a senior official in an edu ...

of the

Republic of Ragusa hr, Sloboda se ne prodaje za sve zlato svijeta it, La libertà non si vende nemmeno per tutto l'oro del mondo"Liberty is not sold for all the gold in the world" , population_estimate = 90 000 in the XVI Century , currency = ...

seven times at the turn of the 17th century, he devoted his life to the prosperity of the city.

Pope Clement VIII Pope Clement VIII ( la, Clemens VIII; it, Clemente VIII; 24 February 1536 – 3 March 1605), born Ippolito Aldobrandini, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 2 February 1592 to his death in March 1605. Born ...

awarded him an honorary

doctorate A doctorate (from Latin ''docere'', "to teach"), doctor's degree (from Latin ''doctor'', "teacher"), or doctoral degree is an academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism ''li ...

in philosophy as well a

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

theology Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the ...

. Gozze was highly regarded for his works related to philosophy,

politics Politics (from , ) is the set of activities that are associated with making decisions in groups, or other forms of power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of resources or status. The branch of social science that stud ...

sociology Sociology is a social science that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. It uses various methods of empirical investigation an ...

, and

pedagogy Pedagogy (), most commonly understood as the approach to teaching, is the theory and practice of learning, and how this process influences, and is influenced by, the social, political and psychological development of learners. Pedagogy, taken ...

. Gučetić married Marija Gundulić-Gučetić, who was a philosopher too, and wrote ''La querelle des femmes u renesansnom Dubrovniku''. The dedication written in her husband's book ''Discorsi di m. Nicolò ; Vito di Gozze sopra le metheore d'Aristotile. Ridotti in dialogo e divisi in quatro giornate'' under the title "Alla non men bella, che virtuosa e gentil donna Fiore Zuzori in Ragugia" Venetiis, 1582, is an extraordinary discourse in Ragusan heritage, given in the first place in the defence of the authors' friend Cvijeta Zuzorić ("''Fiore Zuzori''") but also the other women. Marija was uncompromisingly critical towards the Dubrovnik society that attacked her friend. Her criticism was so sharp that censorship was imposed on it. Marija's dedication has a theoretical value as well because it constitutes a part of a huge debate on the worth of women led in Europe from the 14th century on. The article puts her text in the context of this debate.

Works

Gučetić wrote in the

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 ...

and

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

: *''Commentaria in sermonem Auer. De substantia orbis, et in propositiones de causis'' 1580 *''Dialogo d'amore detto Antos, secondo la mente di Platone'' 1581 *''Dialogo della Bellezza detto Antos, secondo la mente di Platone'' 1581 * ''Sopra le Metheore d' Aristotile'' ("About

Aristotle Aristotle (; grc-gre, Ἀριστοτέλης ''Aristotélēs'', ; 384–322 BC) was a Greek philosopher and polymath during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. Taught by Plato, he was the founder of the Peripatetic school of ph ...

's meteors"), first in 1584 and in 1585 the second edition, in

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 bridges. The isla ...

. ** This work is a comment on explanations of natural phenomena according to the principles of natural philosophy given by

. *''Dello stato delle republiche secondo la mente di Aristotele'' 1591 *''Discorsi della penitenza'' 1589 *''Governo della famiglia'' 1589

On winds and caves

In a part of the book "About Aristotle's meteors" relating to the

meteorology Meteorology is a branch of the atmospheric sciences (which include atmospheric chemistry and physics) with a major focus on weather forecasting. The study of meteorology dates back millennia, though significant progress in meteorology did no ...

which discuss the phenomenon of

wind Wind is the natural movement of air or other gases relative to a planet's surface. Winds occur on a range of scales, from thunderstorm flows lasting tens of minutes, to local breezes generated by heating of land surfaces and lasting a few ho ...

, the writer mentions two caves noted to generate very strong winds at their entrances: * ''Šipun cave'' near Cavtat in the Dubrovnik area * An unnamed cave in

Popovo polje Popovo field ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Popovo polje, Попово поље, , ) is a ''polje'' ( karstic field) in Bosnia and Herzegovina, located in a southernmost region of the country, near the Adriatic coast. Its size is . Popovo polj ...

in Herzegovina – most probably today's Vjetrenica cave (vjetar=wind) Based on these observations, Gučetić explained the origin of winds in general and winds in some caves by the process of evaporation of the

Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. While large volumes of water can be found throughout the Solar System, only Earth sustains liquid surface water. About 71% of Earth's surfa ...

's elements which is caused by the

Sun The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. It is a nearly perfect ball of hot plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core. The Sun radiates this energy mainly as light, ultraviolet, and infrared radi ...

. Being warm, dryer and denser, the evaporation medium is unable to penetrate the Earth through its surface, but only through the large openings and that is what produces wind. Gučetić noted that wind cannot be observed deeper inside the cave, but only at the entrance. He explained that by the

acceleration In mechanics, acceleration is the rate of change of the velocity of an object with respect to time. Accelerations are vector quantities (in that they have magnitude and direction). The orientation of an object's acceleration is given by t ...

of the air current in narrower passages, similar to that one of the sea current in narrow sea passages. In the case of a windless ''šipun cave'', Gučetić stated that this

phenomenon A phenomenon ( : phenomena) is an observable event. The term came into its modern philosophical usage through Immanuel Kant, who contrasted it with the noumenon, which ''cannot'' be directly observed. Kant was heavily influenced by Gottfried ...

is not universal for all caves. He explained the absence of wind on its entrance by its higher humidity and presence of a

lake A lake is an area filled with water, localized in a basin, surrounded by land, and distinct from any river or other outlet that serves to feed or drain the lake. Lakes lie on land and are not part of the ocean, although, like the much large ...

in one or more of possible passages. According to his opinion, the bigger amount of water is favorable for the growth of

stygobite Stygofauna are any fauna that live in groundwater systems or aquifers, such as caves, fissures and vugs. Stygofauna and troglofauna are the two types of subterranean fauna (based on life-history). Both are associated with subterranean environme ...

s and

troglobite A troglobite (or, formally, troglobiont) is an animal species, or population of a species, strictly bound to underground habitats, such as caves. These are separate from species that mainly live in above-ground habitats but are also able to live u ...

s which are abundant in the šipun cave.

References

External links

Biography

Croatian Speleology Links
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gucetic, Nikola Croatian scientists People from Dubrovnik 1549 births 1610 deaths People from the Republic of Ragusa Ragusan scholars Ragusan writers

Life

Works

On winds and caves

See also

References

External links