Giovanni Antonio Scopoli
Encyclopedia
Physician
A physician is a health care provider who practices the profession of medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, injury and other physical and mental impairments...
and naturalist
Natural history
Natural history is the scientific research of plants or animals, leaning more towards observational rather than experimental methods of study, and encompasses more research published in magazines than in academic journals. Grouped among the natural sciences, natural history is the systematic study...
.
Biography
Scopoli was born at CavaleseCavalese
Cavalese is a comune of 3,665 inhabitants in Trentino, northern Italy, a ski resort and the main center in the Val di Fiemme.The cable car from Cavalese to the nearby mountain Cermis has been the site of two major cable-car accidents, one in 1976 and one in 1998 Cavalese is a comune of 3,665...
in the Val di Fiemme
Val di Fiemme
thumb|300px|Location of the Fiemme Valley in [[Trentino]].thumb|300px|The [[Lagorai]] seen from [[Passo Lusia]].Fiemme Valley is a valley in the Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol region in northern Italy located in the Dolomites mountain region....
of Tyrol
Euroregion Tyrol-South Tyrol-Trentino
[Image:Tirol-Suedtirol-Trentino.png|thumb|Detailed map of the Euroregion, formed by the Austrian state of Tyrol and the Italian autonomous provinces of South Tyrol and Trentino.----...
, the son of a lawyer of Italian descent. He obtained a degree in medicine at University of Innsbruck, and practiced as a doctor in Cavalese and Venice
Venice
Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...
. Much of his time was spent in the Alps
Alps
The Alps is one of the great mountain range systems of Europe, stretching from Austria and Slovenia in the east through Italy, Switzerland, Liechtenstein and Germany to France in the west....
, collecting plant
Plant collecting
Plant collecting involves procuring live or dried plant specimens, for the purposes of research, cultivation or as a hobby.-Collection of live specimens:...
s and insect
Entomology
Entomology is the scientific study of insects, a branch of arthropodology...
s, of which he made outstanding collections. He spent two years as private secretary to the Count of Seckan, and then was appointed as physician of the mercury
Mercury (element)
Mercury is a chemical element with the symbol Hg and atomic number 80. It is also known as quicksilver or hydrargyrum...
mines in Idrija
Idrija
Idrija is a small town and municipality in the Goriška region of Slovenia. It is known for its mercury mine and lace....
, a small town in the Habsburg
Habsburg
The House of Habsburg , also found as Hapsburg, and also known as House of Austria is one of the most important royal houses of Europe and is best known for being an origin of all of the formally elected Holy Roman Emperors between 1438 and 1740, as well as rulers of the Austrian Empire and...
realm, remaining there for sixteen years. In 1761, he published De Hydroargyro Idriensi Tentamina on the symptoms of mercury poisoning
Mercury poisoning
Mercury poisoning is a disease caused by exposure to mercury or its compounds. Mercury is a heavy metal occurring in several forms, all of which can produce toxic effects in high enough doses...
among mercury miners.
Carniola
Carniola was a historical region that comprised parts of what is now Slovenia. As part of Austria-Hungary, the region was a crown land officially known as the Duchy of Carniola until 1918. In 1849, the region was subdivided into Upper Carniola, Lower Carniola, and Inner Carniola...
, Entomologia Carniolica
Entomologia Carniolica
is a taxonomic work by Giovanni Antonio Scopoli, published in Vienna in 1763. As well as describing hundreds of new species, contained observations on the species' biology, including the first published account of queen bees mating outside the hive....
(1763). He also published a series of Anni Historico-Naturales (1769–72), which included first descriptions of bird
Bird
Birds are feathered, winged, bipedal, endothermic , egg-laying, vertebrate animals. Around 10,000 living species and 188 families makes them the most speciose class of tetrapod vertebrates. They inhabit ecosystems across the globe, from the Arctic to the Antarctic. Extant birds range in size from...
s from various collections.
In 1769, Scopoli was appointed a professor of chemistry and metallurgy at Mining Academy at Schemnitz (now Banská Štiavnica
Banská Štiavnica
Banská Štiavnica is a town in central Slovakia, in the middle of an immense caldera created by the collapse of an ancient volcano. For its size, the caldera is known as Štiavnica Mountains. Banská Štiavnica has a population of more than 10,000. It is a completely preserved medieval town...
, Slovakia
Slovakia
The Slovak Republic is a landlocked state in Central Europe. It has a population of over five million and an area of about . Slovakia is bordered by the Czech Republic and Austria to the west, Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east and Hungary to the south...
), and in 1777 transferred to the University of Pavia
University of Pavia
The University of Pavia is a university located in Pavia, Lombardy, Italy. It was founded in 1361 and is organized in 9 Faculties.-History:...
. He became a bitter rival of Lazzaro Spallanzani
Lazzaro Spallanzani
Lazzaro Spallanzani was an Italian Catholic priest, biologist and physiologist who made important contributions to the experimental study of bodily functions, animal reproduction, and essentially discovered echolocation...
who was accused of stealing specimens from the Pavia museum. Spallanzani was tried and the prolonged trial resulted in acquittal. Shortly thereafter, Scopoli died of a stroke. His last work was Deliciae Flora et Fauna Insubricae (1786–88), which included scientific names for birds and mammals in northwestern Italy described by Pierre Sonnerat
Pierre Sonnerat
Pierre Sonnerat was a French naturalist and explorer.Sonnerat was the nephew of the botanist Pierre Poivre. He made several voyages to southeast Asia, visiting the Philippines and Moluccas between 1769 and 1772, and India and China from 1774 to 1781. He was the first person to give a scientific...
in the accounts of his voyages.
The plant alkaloid
Alkaloid
Alkaloids are a group of naturally occurring chemical compounds that contain mostly basic nitrogen atoms. This group also includes some related compounds with neutral and even weakly acidic properties. Also some synthetic compounds of similar structure are attributed to alkaloids...
and drug
Drug
A drug, broadly speaking, is any substance that, when absorbed into the body of a living organism, alters normal bodily function. There is no single, precise definition, as there are different meanings in drug control law, government regulations, medicine, and colloquial usage.In pharmacology, a...
scopolamine
Scopolamine
Scopolamine, also known as levo-duboisine, and hyoscine, is a tropane alkaloid drug with muscarinic antagonist effects. It is among the secondary metabolites of plants from Solanaceae family of plants, such as henbane, jimson weed and Angel's Trumpets , and corkwood...
was first found in the genus Scopolia
Scopolia
Scopolia is a genus of five species of flowering plants in the family Solanaceae, native to Europe and Asia. The genus is named after Giovanni Scopoli , a Tyrolian naturalist....
which is named after him. The standard botanical author abbreviation Scop. is applied to species
Species
In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...
he described.
Works
- Flora Carniolica (1760) – a floraFloraFlora is the plant life occurring in a particular region or time, generally the naturally occurring or indigenous—native plant life. The corresponding term for animals is fauna.-Etymology:...
of CarniolaCarniolaCarniola was a historical region that comprised parts of what is now Slovenia. As part of Austria-Hungary, the region was a crown land officially known as the Duchy of Carniola until 1918. In 1849, the region was subdivided into Upper Carniola, Lower Carniola, and Inner Carniola...
, Austria (present Slovenia)http://ia360641.us.archive.org/3/items/joannisantoniisc00scop/joannisantoniisc00scop.pdf. - De Hydroargyro Idriensi Tentamina (1761) – a medical work on the symptoms of mercury poisoning among miners.
- Entomologia Carniolica Vienna: Trattner. (1763) – a major work on entomology containing many descriptions of new species.
- Joh. Ant. Scopoli der Arzneywissenschaft Doktors, Ihro ... Majest. Cameralphysici in der Bergstadt Idria ... Einleitung zur Kenntniß und Gebrauch der Foßilien, Hartknoch4031 Göttingen : Niedersächsische Staats- und UniversitätsbibliothekRiga (1769). In German. Doctoral Thesis.
- Anni Historico-Naturales (1769–72) – This work included descriptions of new birds.
- Flora Carniolica exhibens plantas Carnioliae indigenas et distributas in classes, genera, species, varietates, ordine Linnaeano (1772). – A revised second edition of the first elaborate description of the flora of Krain, Austria, undertaken when Scopoli lived in Idrija. It has 66 plates engraved by J. F. Rein after original drawings by Scopoli. Whereas the unillustrated first edition of 1760 of 600 pages had no binary names for the plant species, this edition has binary names and is written in the Linnaean tradition in all other respects as well.
- Introductio ad historiam naturalem, sistens genera lapidum, plantarum et animalium hactenus detecta, caracteribus essentialibus donata, in tribus divisa, subinde ad leges naturae. Prague. (1777) – masterwork of natural history describing world genera and species.
- Fundamenta Botanica Praelectionibus publicis accomodata. Papiae, S. Salvatoris (1783)- A botanical classic with ten engraved plates each depicting ten to sixteen exact drawings.
- With Pierre Joseph Macquer, - Dizionario di chimica del Sig. Pietro Giuseppe Macquer…Tradotto dal francese e corredato di note e di nuovi articoli... Pavia: printed at the Monastery of San Salvatore for G. Bianchi (1783–84) -The chemist Joseph Macquer's Dictionnaire de chymie, the first dictionary of theoretical and general chemistry was written it in haste and concerned about his reputation, Macquer published it anonymously in 1766. Its huge success prompted the preparation of a revised second edition (1778). Then Scopoli translated and extensively augmented it. A second edition of the translated work, without fuurther additions was published in Venice in 1784-85.
- Deliciae Flora et Fauna Insubricae Ticini (1786–88) – an account including new descriptions of the birds and mammals collected by Pierre SonneratPierre SonneratPierre Sonnerat was a French naturalist and explorer.Sonnerat was the nephew of the botanist Pierre Poivre. He made several voyages to southeast Asia, visiting the Philippines and Moluccas between 1769 and 1772, and India and China from 1774 to 1781. He was the first person to give a scientific...
on his voyages.
Some taxa named by Scopoli
- BattusBattus (butterfly)Battus is a New World genus of butterflies that are usually found around pipevine plants. The caterpillars feed off the poisonous pipevines, making the insects poisonous themselves; they taste very bad to ward off predators. Since birds avoid these butterflies, other swallowtail species mimic...
1777 – Swallowtail butterfly (Papilionidae) genus, South America - Rhagonycha fulva 1763 – a soldier beetle (Cantharidae), Europe
- Cucujus cinnaberinusCucujus cinnaberinusCucujus cinnaberinus is a species of beetle in family Cucujidae. It is found in Austria, Belarus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Montenegro, Norway, Poland, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, and Sweden....
1763 – the flat bark beetle (Cucujidae), Europe - Osmoderma eremitaOsmoderma eremitaOsmoderma eremita, the hermit beetle or Russian leather beetle, is a species of European beetle in the family Scarabaeidae. The larvae develop in hollow trees. Oak is the most important tree species, but the larvae may develop in any tree species with suitable hollows. Due to habitat loss and...
1763 – the Hermit Beetle (ScarabaeidaeScarabaeidaeThe family Scarabaeidae as currently defined consists of over 30,000 species of beetles worldwide. The species in this large family are often called scarabs or scarab beetles. The classification of this family is fairly unstable, with numerous competing theories, and new proposals appearing quite...
), Europe - Sargus bipunctatus 1763 – a soldier fly species (DipteraDipteraDiptera , or true flies, is the order of insects possessing only a single pair of wings on the mesothorax; the metathorax bears a pair of drumstick like structures called the halteres, the remnants of the hind wings. It is a large order, containing an estimated 240,000 species, although under half...
), Europe - Bombus pascuorumBombus pascuorumBombus pascuorum, the Common Carder-bee, is a species of bumblebee belonging to the family Apidae subfamily Apinae tribus Bombini.They are present in most of Europe in a wide variety of habitats such as meadows, pastures, waste ground, ditches and embankments, road, field margins, as well as...
1763 – a bumble bee species (HymenopteraHymenopteraHymenoptera is one of the largest orders of insects, comprising the sawflies, wasps, bees and ants. There are over 130,000 recognized species, with many more remaining to be described. The name refers to the heavy wings of the insects, and is derived from the Ancient Greek ὑμήν : membrane and...
), Europe - Aphis fabaeAphis fabaeAphis fabae is a true bug in the order Hemiptera. Common names include blackfly, black bean aphid, bean aphid and beet leaf aphid. It is a widely distributed pest of agricultural crops.-Distribution:...
1763 – bean aphid (Hemiptera), Worldwide - Ordo Proboscidea 1763 – thrips, cicadas and Hemiptera: a major grouping proposed in Entomologia Carniolica
- Amanita caesareaAmanita caesareaAmanita caesarea, commonly known in English as Caesar's Mushroom, is a highly regarded edible mushroom in the genus Amanita, native to southern Europe and North Africa. It has a distinctive orange cap, yellow gills and stem. Similar orange-capped species occur in North America and India...
– the edible and highly prized Caesar's mushroom - Laccaria laccataLaccaria laccataLaccaria laccata, commonly known as the deceiver, or waxy laccaria, is a white-spored species of small edible mushroom found throughout North America and Europe. It is a highly variable mushroom , and can look quite washed out, colorless and drab, but when younger it often assumes red, pinkish...
– the deceiver mushroom - Order Caudata - the salamanderSalamanderSalamander is a common name of approximately 500 species of amphibians. They are typically characterized by a superficially lizard-like appearance, with their slender bodies, short noses, and long tails. All known fossils and extinct species fall under the order Caudata, while sometimes the extant...
s: a major grouping of AmphibianAmphibianAmphibians , are a class of vertebrate animals including animals such as toads, frogs, caecilians, and salamanders. They are characterized as non-amniote ectothermic tetrapods...
s
Some taxa dedicated to Scopoli
- Cerambyx scopoliiCerambyx scopoliiThe capricorn beetle, Cerambyx scopolii Fuessly, is an invasive species of longhorn beetle from Europe. Its wood-boring larvae will grow in oak, willow, and chestnut, and in sufficient density can kill a tree.- External links :*...
(Fuessly, 1775) - a longhorn beetleLonghorn beetleThe longhorn beetles are a cosmopolitan family of beetles, typically characterized by extremely long antennae, which are often as long as or longer than the beetle's body...
(Cerambycidae), Europe - Dorcadion scopolii (HerbstJohann Friedrich Wilhelm HerbstJohann Friedrich Wilhelm Herbst was a German naturalist and entomologist from Petershagen, Minden-Ravensberg....
, 1784) - a longhorn beetleLonghorn beetleThe longhorn beetles are a cosmopolitan family of beetles, typically characterized by extremely long antennae, which are often as long as or longer than the beetle's body...
(Cerambycidae), Europe
External links
- Short account and portrait
- Online version of Scopoli der Arzneywissenschaft Doktors..GDZ
- Online version of Entomologia Carniolica from GDZ
- "Johannes Antonius Scopoli", Historical Index of Mycologists, Illinois Mycological Society.
- http://www.archive.org/stream/scopolisornithol00scoprich/scopolisornithol00scoprich_djvu.txt Full text of Scopoli's Ornithological papers from his Deliciae florae et faunae insubricae (Ticini: 1786-1788)