Francesco Serao (20 September 1702 – 5 August 1783) was an Italian

physician A physician, medical practitioner (British English), medical doctor, or simply doctor is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through the Medical education, study, Med ...

, physicist, geologist, philosopher and scholar. He was born in San Cipriano d'Aversa and died in

Naples Naples ( ; ; ) is the Regions of Italy, regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 908,082 within the city's administrative limits as of 2025, while its Metropolitan City of N ...

, Italy.

Biography

Serao was taught by the

Jesuit The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

s in Naples. He followed the thinking of Descartes. At eighteen, he graduated in medicine and in 1727 he was awarded the

chair A chair is a type of seat, typically designed for one person and consisting of one or more legs, a flat or slightly angled seat and a back-rest. It may be made of wood, metal, or synthetic materials, and may be padded or upholstered in vario ...

of theoretical medicine. In 1732 he was professor of anatomy, then of medicine. He was a member of the Royal Academy or Academy of Sciences of Naples with his teacher Niccolò Cirillo and was a member of the Academy of Sciences of Paris, of the London Academy, of the Benedictine University of Bologna and of other important scientific and literary groups in Europe. He translated John Pringle's medical works into Italian. Serao was chief physician of the

Kingdom of Naples The Kingdom of Naples (; ; ), officially the Kingdom of Sicily, was a state that ruled the part of the Italian Peninsula south of the Papal States between 1282 and 1816. It was established by the War of the Sicilian Vespers (1282–1302). Until ...

and physician to King Ferdinand IV of Bourbon. Serao died in 1783 and was buried in the church of Monteverginella in Naples.

Works

*''Vita Nicolai Cirilli'', 1738 *''De suffocatis ad vitam revocandis'', 1775 *''Consilia medica'' *''Epistula ad Ioannonem Brunum sulla peste'' *''De Castrensibus morbis'' *''Istoria dell'incendio del Vesuvio accaduto nel mese di maggio 1737'', Naples, published by Novello de Bonis, also translated into French and English in 1738 *''Lezioni accademiche sulla tarantola'', 1742 *''Saggio di considerazioni anatomiche fatte su di un leone; Descrizione dell'elefante, Osservazioni sopra un fenomeno occorso nell'aprire un cinghiale'', Naples, published by Giuseppe De Bonis

References

External links

*
''Vesuvius Erupts, 1738''
a summary of Serao's observations of

Mount Vesuvius Mount Vesuvius ( ) is a Somma volcano, somma–stratovolcano located on the Gulf of Naples in Campania, Italy, about east of Naples and a short distance from the shore. It is one of several volcanoes forming the Campanian volcanic arc. Vesuv ...

— ''Volcanoes, Basalt, and the Discovery of Geological Time'' An Exhibition of Rare Publications from the Collections of the Linda Hall Library
''Istoria dell'incendio del Vesuvio accaduto nel mese di maggio 1737''
at archive.org {{DEFAULTSORT:Serao, Francesco 18th-century Italian physicians 18th-century Italian geologists Academic staff of the University of Bologna 18th-century Italian physicists 18th-century Italian philosophers 1702 births 1783 deaths Physicians from the Kingdom of Naples

Biography

Works

See also

References

External links