Ulysse Aldrovandi
| Ulisse Aldrovandi | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Born | 11 September 1522 Bologna |
| Died | 4 May 1605 (aged 82) Bologna |
| Alma mater | University of Padua |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Naturalist |
| Notable students | Volcher Coiter |
Ulisse Aldrovandi (11 September 1522 – 4 May 1605) was an Italian naturalist, the moving force behind Bologna's botanical garden, one of the first in Europe. Carl Linnaeus and the comte de Buffon reckoned him the father of natural history studies. He is usually referred to, especially in older literature, as Aldrovandus; his name in Italian is equally given as Aldroandi.
Aldrovandi was born in Bologna to Teseo Aldrovandi and his wife, a noble but poor family. His father was a lawyer, and Secretary to the Senate of Bologna, but died when Ulisse was seven years old. However when Pope Gregory XIII, a member of Ulisse's mother's family was elected in 1570, the family fortune improved. His widowed mother wanted him to become a jurist. Initially he was sent to apprentice with merchants as a scribe, for a short time when he was 14, but he found his vocation, after studying mathematics, Latin, law, and philosophy, initially at the university of Bologna and then in Padua in 1545 and becoming a notary. Successively his interests extended to philosophy and logic which he combined with the study of medicine.
He obtained a degree in medicine and philosophy in 1553 and started teaching logic and philosophy in 1554 at the University of Bologna. In 1559 he became professor of philosophy and in 1561 he became the first professor of natural sciences at Bologna (lectura philosophiae naturalis ordinaria de fossilibus, plantis et animalibus). Aldrovandi was a friend of Francesco de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany (1574 – 1587), visiting his garden at Pratolino and travelling with him, compiling a list of the most valuable plants at Pratolino. He also formed fruitful associations with botanical artists such as Jacopo Ligozzi, to further develop illustrated texts. He died in Bologna on 4 May 1605, at the age of 82.
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