Giovanni Canestrini (26 December 1835 – 14 February 1900) was an Italian

naturalist Natural history is a domain of inquiry involving organisms, including animals, fungi, and plants, in their natural environment, leaning more towards observational than experimental methods of study. A person who studies natural history is cal ...

and

biologist A biologist is a scientist who conducts research in biology. Biologists are interested in studying life on Earth, whether it is an individual Cell (biology), cell, a multicellular organism, or a Community (ecology), community of Biological inter ...

and

translator Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. The English language draws a terminological distinction (which does not exist in every language) between ''trans ...

who was a native of

Revò Revò () is a ''Communes of Trentino, comune'' (municipality) in Trentino in the northern Italy, Italian region Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol, located about north of Trento. Geography Revò is situated on a grassy plain in the Val di Non, overl ...

Career

He initially studied in

Gorizia Gorizia (; ; , ; ; ) is a town and (municipality) in northeastern Italy, in the autonomous region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia. It is located at the foot of the Julian Alps, bordering Slovenia. It is the capital of the Province of Gorizia, Region ...

and

Meran Merano (, ; ) or Meran () is a (municipality) in South Tyrol, Northern Italy. Generally best known for its spa resorts, it is located within a basin, surrounded by mountains standing up to above sea level, at the entrance to the Passeier Va ...

, then furthered his education in

natural sciences Natural science or empirical science is one of the branches of science concerned with the description, understanding and prediction of natural phenomena, based on empirical evidence from observation and experimentation. Mechanisms such as peer ...

at the

University of Vienna The University of Vienna (, ) is a public university, public research university in Vienna, Austria. Founded by Rudolf IV, Duke of Austria, Duke Rudolph IV in 1365, it is the oldest university in the German-speaking world and among the largest ...

. From 1862 to 1869, he was a lecturer at the

University of Modena The University of Modena and Reggio Emilia (), located in Modena and Reggio Emilia, Emilia-Romagna, Italy, is one of the oldest universities in Europe, founded in 1175, with a population of 20,000 students. The medieval university disappeared b ...

, and in 1869 became a professor of

zoology Zoology ( , ) is the scientific study of animals. Its studies include the anatomy, structure, embryology, Biological classification, classification, Ethology, habits, and distribution of all animals, both living and extinction, extinct, and ...

and

comparative anatomy Comparative anatomy is the study of similarities and differences in the anatomy of different species. It is closely related to evolutionary biology and phylogeny (the evolution of species). The science began in the classical era, continuing in t ...

at the

University of Padua The University of Padua (, UNIPD) is an Italian public research university in Padua, Italy. It was founded in 1222 by a group of students and teachers from the University of Bologna, who previously settled in Vicenza; thus, it is the second-oldest ...

. In 1862 he founded the ''Società dei Naturalisti Modenesi'' (

Modena Modena (, ; ; ; ; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) on the south side of the Po Valley, in the Province of Modena, in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy. It has 184,739 inhabitants as of 2025. A town, and seat of an archbis ...

Society of Naturalists), and in 1871, the ''Società Veneto-Trentina di Scienze Naturali'' (

Trento Trento ( or ; Ladin language, Ladin and ; ; ; ; ; ), also known in English as Trent, is a city on the Adige, Adige River in Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol in Italy. It is the capital of the Trentino, autonomous province of Trento. In the 16th ...

-Venetian Society of Natural Sciences). He is credited with establishment of the

bacteriology Bacteriology is the branch and specialty of biology that studies the Morphology (biology), morphology, ecology, genetics and biochemistry of bacteria as well as many other aspects related to them. This subdivision of microbiology involves the iden ...

laboratory at

Padua Padua ( ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) in Veneto, northern Italy, and the capital of the province of Padua. The city lies on the banks of the river Bacchiglione, west of Venice and southeast of Vicenza, and has a population of 20 ...

. Canestrini made contributions in several biological disciplines, performing important research in the field of

acarology Acarology (from Ancient Greek /, , a type of mite; and , -logy, ) is the study of mites and ticks, the animals in the order (biology), order Mite, Acarina. It is a subfield of arachnology, a subdiscipline of the field of zoology. A zoologist spec ...

. He was an advocate of

Darwinism ''Darwinism'' is a term used to describe a theory of biological evolution developed by the English naturalist Charles Darwin (1809–1882) and others. The theory states that all species of organisms arise and develop through the natural sel ...

, and was responsible for translating Darwin's works. In 1864, he was the first to translate Darwin's ''

On the Origin of Species ''On the Origin of Species'' (or, more completely, ''On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life'')The book's full original title was ''On the Origin of Species by M ...

'' into Italian.Kölbl-Ebert, Martina. (2009). ''Geology and Religion: A History of Harmony and Hostility''. The Geological Society. p. 270. Through these translations, Canestrini was a principal factor concerning the popularity of Darwinism in 19th century Italy. He wrote ''Origine dell’uomo'' (''The Origin of Man'', 1866) which advocated

common ancestry Common descent is a concept in evolutionary biology applicable when one species is the ancestor of two or more species later in time. According to modern evolutionary biology, all living beings could be descendants of a unique ancestor commonl ...

and defended Darwin from criticisms of

Giovanni Giuseppe Bianconi Giovanni Giuseppe Bianconi, sometimes J. Josephi or Joseph Bianconi, (31 July 1809 in Bologna – 18 October 1878 in Bologna) was an Italians, Italian zoologist, herpetologist, botanist and geologist. Career Bianconi sueceeded his teacher Camill ...

and others, this work was published five years before Darwin's ''

The Descent of Man ''The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex'' is a book by English natural history, naturalist Charles Darwin, first published in 1871, which applies evolutionary theory to human evolution, and details his theory of sexual selection, ...

''.Birx, H. James. (2006). ''Encyclopedia of Anthropology, Volume 1''. Sage Publications. p. 686-687. However, although Canestrini was a supporter of many of Darwin's ideas, he rejected his theories of

pangenesis Pangenesis was Charles Darwin's hypothetical mechanism for heredity, in which he proposed that each part of the body continually emitted its own type of small organic particles called gemmules that aggregated in the gonads, contributing heritabl ...

and

sexual selection Sexual selection is a mechanism of evolution in which members of one sex mate choice, choose mates of the other sex to mating, mate with (intersexual selection), and compete with members of the same sex for access to members of the opposite sex ...

. During his career he was the author of almost 200 scientific publications.

Written works

* ''Origine dell’uomo''. 1866 - Origin of man. * ''Aracnidi italiani''. 1868 - Italian

arachnid Arachnids are arthropods in the Class (biology), class Arachnida () of the subphylum Chelicerata. Arachnida includes, among others, spiders, scorpions, ticks, mites, pseudoscorpions, opiliones, harvestmen, Solifugae, camel spiders, Amblypygi, wh ...

s. * ''Compendio di zoologia e anatomia comparata'', 3 volumes, 1869, 1870, 1871 - Outline of

and

. * ''Prime nozioni di antropologia''. 1878 - Basics of

anthropology Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, concerned with human behavior, human biology, cultures, society, societies, and linguistics, in both the present and past, including archaic humans. Social anthropology studies patterns of behav ...

. * ''Apicoltura''. 1880 -

Apiculture Beekeeping (or apiculture, from ) is the maintenance of bee colonies, commonly in artificial beehives. Honey bees in the genus ''Apis (bee), Apis'' are the most commonly kept species but other honey producing bees such as ''Melipona'' stingless be ...

.
''La teoria di Darwin criticamente esposta''
1880 - A critical account of Darwin’s theory * ''La teoria dell’evoluzione esposta nei suoi fondamenti''. 1887 - The theory of evolution exhibited in its foundations. * ''Antropologia''. 1888 -

Anthropology Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, concerned with human behavior, human biology, cultures, society, societies, and linguistics, in both the present and past, including archaic humans. Social anthropology studies patterns of behav ...

. * ''Prospetto Dell’Acarofauna Italiana'', 8 volumes, 1885–1899 - Prospectus of Italian

Acari Mites are small arachnids (eight-legged arthropods) of two large orders, the Acariformes and the Parasitiformes, which were historically grouped together in the subclass Acari. However, most recent genetic analyses do not recover the two as ea ...

. * ''Sistema per la classe degli Acaroidei''. 1891 - System for the class of

. * ''Batteriologia''. 1896 -

Bacteriology Bacteriology is the branch and specialty of biology that studies the Morphology (biology), morphology, ecology, genetics and biochemistry of bacteria as well as many other aspects related to them. This subdivision of microbiology involves the iden ...

. Translations *Charles Darwin's ''On the Origin of Species'', 1864; ''Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals'', 1878; ''Insectivorous Plants'' 1878.

Career

Written works

References

Further reading