Giosuè Edoard Sangiovanni (15 January 1775 – 17 May 1849) was an Italian

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 kingdom, including the structure, embryology, evolution, classification, habits, and ...

, the first professor of

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 ...

in Italy and an early exponent of

evolution Evolution is change in the heritable characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. These characteristics are the expressions of genes, which are passed on from parent to offspring during reproduction. Variation ...

. Born at Laurino in the

kingdom of Naples The Kingdom of Naples ( la, Regnum Neapolitanum; it, Regno di Napoli; nap, Regno 'e Napule), also known as the Kingdom of Sicily, was a state that ruled the part of the Italian Peninsula south of the Papal States between 1282 and 1816. It was ...

, he followed his education in philosophy and mathematics at Naples with medical study at the

Ospedale degli Incurabili The Ospedale degli Incurabili (''Hospital for the Incurables'') or Complesso degli Incurabili is an ancient and prominent hospital complex located on Via Maria Longo in central Naples, Italy. Part of the complex, including the remarkable phar ...

there. With the fall of the Napoleonic Neapolitan Republic of 1799, Sangiovanni fled to exile in Paris. There, during the Napoleonic Empire he was a pupil of the prominent French zoologists

Jean-Baptiste de Lamarck Jean-Baptiste Pierre Antoine de Monet, chevalier de Lamarck (1 August 1744 – 18 December 1829), often known simply as Lamarck (; ), was a French naturalist, biologist, academic, and soldier. He was an early proponent of the idea that biolog ...

. In his distinguished career Sangiovanni was enrolled as a Chevalier of the Legion of Honor. Sangiovanni was supportive of Lamarck and

Erasmus Darwin Erasmus Robert Darwin (12 December 173118 April 1802) was an English physician. One of the key thinkers of the Midlands Enlightenment, he was also a natural philosopher, physiologist, slave-trade abolitionist, inventor, and poet. His poem ...

's evolutionary ideas. He obtained a copy of '' Zoonomia'' and walked around Paris for several weeks with it in his pocket.Corsi, Pietro. (2005). ''Before Darwin: Transformist Concepts in European Natural History''. '' Journal of the History of Biology'' 38: 67-83. Called to

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

in 1806, at the reorganization of the

university A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase ''universitas magistrorum et scholarium'', which ...

, he planned and brought to fruition the university's ''Museo Zoologico'' and held the first chair of comparative anatomy in the faculty of natural sciences. He died after an extended illness, in retirement at

Posillipo Posillipo (; nap, Pusilleco ) is an affluent residential quarter of Naples, southern Italy, located along the northern coast of the Gulf of Naples. From the 1st century BC the Bay of Naples witnessed the rise of villas constructed by elite Roma ...

near Naples.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sangiovanni, Giosue 1775 births 1849 deaths Italian zoologists Proto-evolutionary biologists People of the Parthenopean Republic