The earth sciences in the scientific letters of Giovanni Capellini

Graziano Ferrari Graziano Ferrari,Massimo Caciagli Massimo Caciagli

doi:10.4401/ag-4624

Abstract

Giovanni Capellini (1833-1922) was one of the leading representatives of the Italian and international scientific community from the mid-19th century until 1922, the year of his death. Professor of Geology at the University of Bologna from 1860, geologist, palaeontologist and archaeologist, in 1871 he organised, straight after the unification of Italy, the 5th International Congress in Archaeology and Prehistoric Anthropology, first in Italy, and in 1881 brought to Bologna, for the first time ever in Italy, the 2nd International Geological Congress. His studies and publications strongly influenced the geological thinking of his times. At the Archiginnasio Library in Bologna there are as many as 30,000 documents from his scientific letters (The Capellini Archive), the result of an intense correspondence he had with geologists, seismologists, astronomers and meteorologists, but also with people from the world of culture and politics. The letters relating to the earth sciences, from scientific but also political point of view, are the majority. The archive includes letters from more then 4,300 senders, of which at least 25% foreign ones incuding Charles Lyell (geologist), Emmanuel Friedlaender (volcanologist), Philip Eduard De Verneuil (naturalist), Henry James Johnston Lavis (volcanologist).

Highlights

Scientific letters have an important role in the Earth sciences, both from a historical-cultural and scientific point of view
With a long presence in the scientific community (60 years) and in political relations, in his letters he discussed with people from the science world, from politics and from the cultural community in general
Savi and Meneghini were both geologist naturalist much esteemed in the European context and Pilla, called upon by the Great Duke of Tuscany to deal with the newly founded Chair of Geology at the University of Pisa, is considered by the historians of Earth Sciences to be one of the founders of Regional Geology

Summary

Introduction

Scientific letters have an important role in the Earth sciences, both from a historical-cultural and scientific point of view. Savi and Meneghini were both geologist naturalist much esteemed in the European context and Pilla, called upon by the Great Duke of Tuscany to deal with the newly founded Chair of Geology at the University of Pisa, is considered by the historians of Earth Sciences to be one of the founders of Regional Geology After his degree, Capellini intensified his excursions surveying, in particular in Liguria and Tuscany regions and, during this period, made a strong friendship with Lorenzo Pareto (18001865), another important figure in the history of Italian geology. He was appointed President of the sixth edition held in Brussels in 1872. On 28th May 1922 Giovanni Capellini died in Bologna after a short illness

Correspondence

Conclusions