Giancarlo Ligabue (30 October 1931 – 25 January 2015) was an Italian paleontologist, scholar, politician and businessman. Born in

Venice Venice ( ; ; , formerly ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 islands that are separated by expanses of open water and by canals; portions of the city are li ...

, Ligabue graduated in economics at the Ca' Foscari University of Venice and in Geology at la Sorbonne, and later received five honorary degrees from the universities of

Bologna Bologna ( , , ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in northern Italy. It is the List of cities in Italy, seventh most populous city in Italy, with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nationalities. Its M ...

, Venice,

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 ...

Lima Lima ( ; ), founded in 1535 as the Ciudad de los Reyes (, Spanish for "City of Biblical Magi, Kings"), is the capital and largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón River, Chillón, Rímac River, Rímac and Lurín Rive ...

and Ashgabat. He participated or directed over 130 expeditions around the world, and made several paleontological discoveries, such as the '' Ligabueino'', a noasaurid dinosaur named after him, and such as the unearthed deposits of hominid and dinosaurs fossils in the Ténéré desert. He collaborated with Piero Angela to several science documentaries. He was president of the Natural History Museum of Venice and founder of the Ligabue Study and Research Centre in Venice. He started the semiannual thematic ''Ligabue Magazine'' on archaeological, paleontological and naturalistic topics. Ligabue was also a businessman in the field of supplies and services for ships. He was the president of the basketball team Reyer Venezia Mestre between the early sixties and early eighties. He was a member of the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the two legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it ...

for Forza Italia within the Forza Europa group between 1994 and 1999.

References

1931 births 2015 deaths Writers from Venice Italian paleontologists MEPs for Italy 1994–1999 Forza Italia MEPs Businesspeople from Venice Ca' Foscari University of Venice alumni University of Paris alumni Politicians from Venice {{Italy-MEP-stub