scholarly journals Il Museo di Storia Naturale dell'Università degli Studi di Firenze. Le collezioni antropologiche ed etnologiche / The Museum of Natural History of the University of Florence. The Anthropological and Ethnological Collections

Author(s):  
Jacopo Moggi Cecchi ◽  
Roscoe Stanyon

This volume is dedicated to the Anthropological and Ethnological section of the Natural History Museum. First the historical journey of the collections is traced from the antique nucleus of the Medici to the foundation of the National Museum of Anthropology and Ethnology, when Florence was the capitol of Italy, and the discipline of anthropology was born. The second part illustrates the multivariate collections from all over the globe. They are a precious record of the past and present biological and cultural diversity of our species opening wide horizons that rigorously connect science to the many faces of human culture, including art. The third section is dedicated to current research and opens new prospectives on the significance of ethnological and anthropological collections due to new technology and in light of a new appreciation of the museum as a living “zone of contact”.

2012 ◽  

The Museum of Natural History of the University of Florence, founded in 1775 by Grand Duke Pietro Leopoldo d'Asburgo Lorena, is one of the oldest and most prestigious scientific museums in the world. The fourth volume on the Collections of the Mineralogy and Lithology Section, published like the previous volumes by the Firenze University Press, fits perfectly in the series dedicated to the collections of the University's Museum System. The first part of the book describes in great detail the paths that led to the formation of the collections, starting with those dating to the Medici period and arriving at the specimens collected during recent expeditions. The second part illustrates and documents the extraordinary specimens of minerals, hardstone carvings and meteorites which represent the material patrimony of this section. Particular attention is given to the holotypes, the Elban Collection and the minerals of pegmatites, as well as the methods and solutions adopted to realize the project of the new museum exhibition set-up. The third and last part describes the studies carried out on the materials: from the minerals of the systematic collections to the rock specimens that recount not only the geodiversity of a region but also the history of a city.


The Natural History Museum of the University of Florence, founded in 1775 by Grand Duke Pietro Leopoldo, is one of the oldest scientific museum in the world. With this third volume on the collections of the Geology and Paleontology Section, Firenze University Press continues its series dedicated to the six Sections of the Museum. The first part of the volume shows a detailed and fascinating descriptions of the history of this museum section's collections, the contribution of scholars who from the 17th century endeavoured to expand and study the Florentine geological-paleontological collections, and the importance of the collections to the development of modern geological-paleontological thinking. The second part describes and documents the collections, that are presented in geo-chronological order, divided into the Invertebrate, Vertebrate, Paleobotanical and Geological collections. In the last part are presented the most important activities and research projects, based on this important cultural heritage, carried out by the paleontologists of the University of Florence.


2009 ◽  

The Museum of Natural History of the University of Florence, founded in 1775 by the Grand Duke Peter Leopold, is the oldest scientific museum in Europe. Firenze University Press opens the series dealing with the six sections of the Museum with this book on La Specola, situated in Palazzo Torrigiani, which represented the original nucleus. The articles in the first section reconstruct the historic background, the foundation of La Specola and the genesis and development of the collections. The second part considers the anatomical waxes, the entomological collections, and those of the vertebrates and the invertebrates, with a view to providing a description of the precious specimens that is at once precise and accessible. Finally, the third section completes the picture, retracing the important research activity that has accompanied the history of La Specola and reporting on the scientific projects in which the personnel are engaged. The largest collection in the world of anatomical wax models and the vast zoological collection are illustrated by the people directly involved in the related research, and by a superb selection of original photos produced specially for this publication.


Substantia ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 5-17
Author(s):  
Stefano Dominici ◽  
Gary D. Rosenberg

A group of scientists interested in history of science and fascinated by the figure of Nicolaus Steno (1638-1686) gathered in Florence for the 350th anniversary of the publication of his De solido intra solidum naturaliter contento prodromus dissertationis. A public conference held at Palazzo Fenzi on 16 October 2019 and a geological fieldtrip on the following day were occasions to discuss different points of view on the last published work of the Danish natural philosopher, dedicated to "solids naturally enclosed in other solids" (De solido intra solidum naturaliter contento, or De solido in short). The title of the gathering, "Galilean foundation for a solid earth", emphasized the philosophical context that Steno found in Florence, where in 1666-1668 he established tight human and philosophical bonds with renowned Italian disciples of Galileo Galilei and members of the Accademia del Cimento. For participants to the 2019 gathering, the Museum of Natural History of the University of Florence, hosting some of Steno's geological specimens, and the region of Tuscany itself, formed the perfect location to discuss the phenomena that Steno had observed from 1666-1668, the motivations for his research, the methodology of his discovery and, generally stated, the European scientific context which informed his inquiry. Some of the talks given in that meeting are included within this volume, kindly hosted by Substantia, International Journal of the History of Chemistry published by the Florence University Press. In addition some of the invited speakers who were unable to attend, also contributed a paper to this publication. The collection is about earth science in the early modern period, when the study of minerals, rocks, and the fossilized remains of living things did not yet form a distinct path to knowledge about earth history, but was an integral part of the wider "philosophy of nature".


2003 ◽  
Vol 33 (1) ◽  
pp. 59-86
Author(s):  
John S. Levin

This qualitative investigation identifies a condition of frenetic change experienced by organizational members at two university col- leges in British Columbia, Canada, during the past decade. Prominent outcomes of the formal designation of five former community colleges as university colleges included curricular change and the evolution of a new institutional mission. The brief history of the university colleges of British Columbia parallels the process of economic globalization in the province of British Columbia, and the responses of managers and faculty at university colleges indicate that globalization influenced the formation and functioning of these institutions.


2020 ◽  
Vol 26 (5-6) ◽  
pp. 507-512
Author(s):  
Editorial Board

(Based on the materials from the archive of the Department of Social Hygiene of Kazan University) .. Another old doctor-populist and social activist, the glorious son of Kazan University, V Ladimir Nikolaevich Zolotnitsky, has passed away; left at a ripe old age - 77 years old, but continued to work almost until his last days. His work until his last days was to take an active interest in the life of the present and the past. In particular, he was keenly interested in the anniversary of our university. One of the first responded to my letter "To old doctors - citizens of Kazan" on the occasion of the anniversary with a request to send materials to the history of the university, VN was one of the first to respond. During January and February of this year, he corresponded with me; he delivered valuable materials about his life to our department , memories of the past, sent all his published works. He put me in touch with Prof. A?. V. Portugalov, the son of a scholar, writer - publicist, until the anniversary and will be a guest of honor at this university festival as the oldest student of the university. But the laws of biology decided otherwise: V.N.Zolotnitsky celebrated his 50th anniversary of medical and social activity, celebrated the 75th anniversary of his life, celebrated the formal historical date of the 125th anniversary of his university, but did not live 21/2 months before the solemn anniversary.


2009 ◽  
Vol 36 (2) ◽  
pp. 189-217 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dale R. Calder

Thomas Hincks was born 15 July 1818 in Exeter, England. He attended Manchester New College, York, from 1833 to 1839, and received a B.A. from the University of London in 1840. In 1839 he commenced a 30-year career as a cleric, and served with distinction at Unitarian chapels in Ireland and England. Meanwhile, he enthusiastically pursued interests in natural history. A breakdown in his health and permanent voice impairment during 1867–68 while at Mill Hill Chapel, Leeds, forced him reluctantly to resign from active ministry in 1869. He moved to Taunton and later to Clifton, and devoted much of the rest of his life to natural history. Hincks was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of London in 1872 for noteworthy contributions to natural history. Foremost among his publications in science were A history of the British hydroid zoophytes (1868) and A history of the British marine Polyzoa (1880). Hincks named 24 families, 52 genera and 360 species and subspecies of invertebrates, mostly Bryozoa and Hydrozoa. Hincks died 25 January 1899 in Clifton, and was buried in Leeds. His important bryozoan and hydroid collections are in the Natural History Museum, London. At least six genera and 13 species of invertebrates are named in his honour.


It is my first duty to refer to Fellows who have recently passed away. George Albert Boulenger was a student of the University of Brussels, his native city. He began at a very early age the study of reptiles, batrachians and fishes in the Natural History Museum at Brussels, and in 1880 became assistant naturalist there. In 1882, he was appointed a first class assistant in the Department of Zoology in the British Museum; he held this position until he retired in 1920. He has been described as a man of tremendous energy, an extremely methodical mind, and an amazing memory. These qualities were the foundation of the vast amount of work which he accomplished. He was one of the most distinguished of the descriptive biologists who have brought fame to the British Museum during the past hundred years. His most important contributions to science were the series of elaborate and detailed monographs, mostly published by the Museum. These still remain the basis of modern systematic work. They dealt with the groups of life which had interested him from the beginning, the batrachians, fishes, lizards, snakes and so forth. Thanks to his energy as a collector and as a stimulator of collectors, the Museum is rich in its possessions of these types; for example, it possesses an unparalleled collection of fresh water fishes. Boulenger was elected a Fellow in 1894 and served on the Council from 1903 to 1905. He was for some years a Vice-president of the Zoological Society and received many honours at home and abroad. He was naturalized in this country. Towards the end of his long life he forsook his reptiles and for twenty years devoted himself to the study of roses.


1945 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 47-48
Author(s):  
James B. Griffin

Excavations carried on in 1931 under the University of Illinois archaeological program were directed by A. R. Kelly. One of the small mounds explored during the spring of that year was excavated by W. V. Kinietz. It was called the Box Elder Mound and was located near the town of Science, in Starved Rock State Park near Utica, La Salle County, Illinois.During the summer of 1935 I was permitted by the late F. C. Baker, then Curator of the Museum of Natural History of the University of Illinois, to study and describe this material. The vessels to be described below are a part of the collections of the University of Illinois.


2020 ◽  
Vol 23 (5) ◽  
pp. 890-904
Author(s):  
Farida Ravilevna Vagapova ◽  
Svetlana Anatolievna Frolova

The Museum is located in the heart of the main building of KFU. This room has changed its purpose many times: after the October revolution it was used as a gym, in wartime it was a hostel for evacuated employees of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, later it served as a reading room of the Scientific library. Lobachevsky. The opening of the Museum was dedicated to the 175th anniversary of Kazan state University in 1979. The Museum is dedicated to the two-century history of the emergence, formation and development of Kazan University – from Imperial to Federal. The main section of the exhibition tells about scientific schools, outstanding researchers and discoveries that brought the Kazan University and its scientists worldwide fame. Much attention is paid to the famous students and graduates of the University: statesmen, scientists, culture, literature and art, sports. Among them, S. T. Aksakov, N. And. Lobachevsky, I. M. Simonov, A. M. Butlerov, L. N. Tolstoy, V. I. Ulyanov-Lenin, E. K. Zavoisky, A. E. Arbuzov, and others. The exhibition shows the role of advanced scientists and democratically minded Kazan students in the social and political life of Russia XIX-early XX centuries.in each section of the exhibition you can see the relics of the past and the present, which witnessed many events in the history of the University and the country. In addition to the main exhibition, the Museum includes a memorial complex: the Imperial hall and lecture hall of the faculty of law with the interior of the late XIX – early XX centuries, where as a students listened to lectures L. Tolstoy, V. Ulyanov and others.The report is devoted to the areas of cooperation between the Museum of History of Kazan University and the KFU Nikolay Lobachevsky Scientific Library in 2017-2019 years such as exhibition, cultural and educational activities to preserve and promote the university’s heritage.


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