Giuseppe Marzari Pencati

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Giuseppe Marzari Pencati (born July 22, 1779 in Vicenza , † June 30, 1836 ibid) was an Italian geologist and botanist . Its botanical author abbreviation is " Marz.-Penc. "

Life

He came from a family who emigrated from Sicily to Veneto in the 12th century and who had been ennobled in the 15th century for their services to the Republic of Venice . Little is known about his childhood and youth. Presumably from 1789 he attended the seminary in Padua , one of the best schools in Veneto, where he received a classical education. Subsequently attended courses in physics and natural history at the Academy of Agricultural Sciences in Vicenza. His interest in science was strengthened by visits by numerous scholars to his father's villa in Santorso . The guests included Alberto Fortis , Giovanni Battista Brocchi , who later also belonged to his circle of friends, Alberto Parolini , Nicolò da Rio and Girolamo Festari .

Santorso was the starting point for his botanical explorations on Monte Summano to the north. At the end of the 18th century he extended his explorations to the entire pre-alpine area of ​​the Vicentine Alps and to the range of hills of the Colli Berici south of Vicenza. In 1802 he published his first work on the flora in the Vicenza area ( Elenco delle piante spontanee osservate nel territorio di Vicenza ), in which, inspired by Lamarck , he supplemented the descriptions with geographical and climatic information, and also provided information on therapeutic and economic information Use of certain types. One focus of his work was the research of new crops, which culminated in 1801 with the proposal to use Icelandic moss as a supplementary food for the undernourished lower class of the Veneto population.

In 1802 he attended lectures and courses in mineralogy , geology, chemistry, zoology, paleontology and comparative anatomy in the Athenaeum and the Muséum national d'histoire naturelle in Paris . During his stay, the talented Marzari Pencati came into contact with numerous scholars of his time, including Alexander von Humboldt , Antoine-Laurent de Jussieu , Leopold von Buch , Jean-Claude Delamétherie and Louis Cordier . From then on he became more interested in geology and made friends with his professor of geology at the Muséum national, Barthélemy Faujas de Saint-Fond, a follower of Plutonism . His contacts with supporters of the Neptunism founded by Abraham Gottlob Werner did not dissuade him from his understanding of geology, which was influenced by Plutonism.

On behalf of Fauja, he carried out geological field surveys in the Auvergne and Vivarais in 1804 , which reinforced his convictions. In addition to his new main interest, he continued to occupy himself with botany. For example, he researched the dormancy in the Jardin des Plantes and in the botanical garden of Joséphine de Beauharnais , the wife of Napoleon Bonaparte .

In 1805 he returned to Italy and carried out research on behalf of Cordier and Jean-Henri Hassenfratz . Two years later he was commissioned by Eugène de Beauharnais to carry out mineralogical surveys in the Kingdom of Italy , which he was employed in the departments of Brenta , Bacchiglione and Serio until 1811 .

In 1808 he invented the tachygoniometer, a new instrument for measuring crystal angles that was later awarded. In 1812 he was appointed mine inspector and in the following period he often stayed in the Adige Valley , Val d'Astico, Vallarsa and Valsugana . The end of the Napoleonic era in 1814 and the dissolution of his authority did not interrupt his work either. Until his appointment as general mine inspector in 1818 by the Lombardy-Venetian government, he traveled the Alps.

Between September 1818 and November 1819 he stayed several times in the Etschtaler Vulkanit-Gruppe , which he had visited in 1806 and 1810. In 1810 he made an observation at Kollmann in the Eisack Valley , which Brocchi took up and which contradicted the theory that was prevalent at the time, since older rock layers were underlain by younger ones , in this case porphyry and greywacke . An observation that initially did not attract any further attention due to a lack of publication. This changed when he made and published a similar observation at Predazzo in Val di Fiemme in 1819 . In this case, diorite was superimposed on sedimentary rocks .

Thereupon von Buch traveled to Predazzo to investigate the matter, but in the end did not confirm the observations of Marzari Pencati, as he stuck to his Werner-influenced theory of stratigraphy and accused Marzari Pencati of having worked superficially and sloppily.

Marzari Pencati felt confirmed by a third observation on the southern edge of the Cima d'Asta massif and then turned to Humboldt. The latter suggested an on-site inspection, but this did not come about due to Marzari Pencati's ailing condition. Humboldt traveled to Predazzo on his own in September 1822 and became aware of the importance of Marzari Pencati's observation, which challenged the geological theories of the time. The following month the two met several times and Humboldt finally mentioned him in the first volume of his work Kosmos .

Disappointed about the lack of response to his discovery, Marzari Pencati withdrew from the public debate and died secluded in Vicenza in 1836.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d Luca Ciancio:  Giuseppe Marzari Pencati. In: Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani (DBI).
  2. ↑ a b Marzari Pencati, Giuseppe. In: Austrian Biographical Lexicon 1815–1950 (ÖBL). Volume 6, Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Vienna 1975, ISBN 3-7001-0128-7 , p. 122.
  3. ^ Franco de Battaglia: Lagorai p. 64
  4. ↑ Francesco Luzzini: Scalare il Sublime. Scienza e storia nel primo volume del Memoriale dell'Hotel Nave d'Oro di Predazzo (1820-1875) p. 96
  5. ^ Franco de Battaglia: Lagorai p. 66
personal data
SURNAME Marzari Pencati, Giuseppe
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Italian geologist and botanist
DATE OF BIRTH July 22, 1779
PLACE OF BIRTH Vicenza
DATE OF DEATH June 30, 1836
Place of death Vicenza