Giorgio Jan (21 December 1791 in

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

– 8 May 1866,

Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...

) was an Italian

taxonomist In biology, taxonomy () is the science, scientific study of naming, defining (Circumscription (taxonomy), circumscribing) and classifying groups of biological organisms based on shared characteristics. Organisms are grouped into taxon, taxa (si ...

zoologist Zoology ( , ) is the scientific study of animals. Its studies include the structure, embryology, classification, habits, and distribution of all animals, both living and extinct, and how they interact with their ecosystems. Zoology is one ...

botanist Botany, also called plant science, is the branch of natural science and biology studying plants, especially Plant anatomy, their anatomy, Plant taxonomy, taxonomy, and Plant ecology, ecology. A botanist or plant scientist is a scientist who s ...

herpetologist Herpetology (from Ancient Greek ἑρπετόν ''herpetón'', meaning "reptile" or "creeping animal") is a branch of zoology concerned with the study of amphibians (including frogs, salamanders, and caecilians (Gymnophiona)) and reptiles (in ...

, and writer. He is also known as Georg Jan or Georges Jan. He was the first director of the natural history museum at Milan.

Biography

After having been an assistant 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 ...

until 1816, Jan obtained the post of professor of botany at the university of

Parma Parma (; ) is a city in the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna known for its architecture, Giuseppe Verdi, music, art, prosciutto (ham), Parmesan, cheese and surrounding countryside. With a population of 198,986 inhabitants as of 2025, ...

as well as becoming Director of the botanical garden. Already in his time at Wien he started offering herbaria for purchase to princely courts - an example being the ''Oesterreichs Flora (Flora Austriae)'', sent between 1815 and 1818 to Karl August, Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach. In Parma he continued to offer

exsiccata Exsiccata (Latin, ''gen.'' -ae, ''plur.'' -ae) is a work with "published, uniform, numbered set of preserved specimens distributed with printed labels". Typically, exsiccatae are numbered collections of dried herbarium Biological specimen, spe ...

-like series with plant specimens for sale, an example being the ''Herbarium portatile'' with the species list published in 1820. At that time, the Duchy of Parma was no longer under

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

n jurisdiction following the

Congress of Vienna The Congress of Vienna of 1814–1815 was a series of international diplomatic meetings to discuss and agree upon a possible new layout of the European political and constitutional order after the downfall of the French Emperor Napoleon, Napol ...

after the defeat of

Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte (born Napoleone di Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French general and statesman who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led Military career ...

at Waterloo. Giuseppe de Cristoforis died in 1837 bequeathing his collections to the town of

on condition that the municipality created a natural history museum whose direction had to be entrusted to Giorgio Jan, who offered his own collections. The ''

Museo Civico di Storia Naturale di Milano The Museo Civico di Storia Naturale di Milano (Milan Natural History Museum) is a museum in Milan, Italy. It was founded in 1838 when the naturalist Giuseppe de Cristoforis donated his collections to the city. Its first director was the taxono ...

'' was created the following year and is the oldest natural history museum of Italy. Later on, Jan engaged Ferdinando Sordelli (1837–1916), artist and naturalist, who illustrated his publications starting with 1860. Jan's main interest was botany, but he made immense collections of

natural history 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 ...

, including

fossils A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved ...

and

minerals In geology and mineralogy, a mineral or mineral species is, broadly speaking, a solid substance with a fairly well-defined chemical composition and a specific crystal structure that occurs naturally in pure form.John P. Rafferty, ed. (2011): M ...

. With Giuseppe de Cristoforis, he published many catalogues of specimens, often offered for sale or exchange. In these many new

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

, were described mainly insects and molluscs. In the scientific field of

herpetology Herpetology (from Ancient Greek ἑρπετόν ''herpetón'', meaning "reptile" or "creeping animal") is a branch of zoology concerned with the study of amphibians (including frogs, salamanders, and caecilians (Gymnophiona)) and reptiles (in ...

he is credited with having described more than 85 new

snake Snakes are elongated limbless reptiles of the suborder Serpentes (). Cladistically squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping scales much like other members of the group. Many species of snakes have s ...

s, and is honored by having several species and subspecies named after him, such as the Texas night snake ('' Hypsiglena jani)'', the Mexican pine snake ('' Pituophis deppei jani)'', Jan's shovelsnout snake ('' Prosymna janii)'', and Jan's centipede snake ('' Tantilla jani)''. In the 1860s he began compiling what was to become the ''Iconographie Général des Ophidiens'', an extensive illustrated collection of scientific papers relating to snakes, but he died before it was completed. The work was eventually finished and published in several parts by Sordelli.

Publications (incomplete list)

*''Iconographie Générale des Ophidians'' (1860–1866). (in French). (in French).

References

External links

''Museo Civico di Storia Naturale Milano''
(in Italian).
Elenco sistematico degli ofidi descritti e disegnati per l'iconografia generale
(1863)
Iconographie générale des ophidiens
(1860-1881)
Gaedike R, Groll EK, Taeger A (2012). Bibliography of the literature on entomology from the beginning until 1863 : online database - version 1.0 - ''Senckenberg Deutsches Entomologisches Institut''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jan, Giorgio Italian entomologists 19th-century Italian botanists Italian zoologists Scientists from Vienna Academic staff of the University of Vienna Academic staff of the University of Parma 1791 births 1866 deaths Zoologists from the Austrian Empire

Biography

Publications (incomplete list)

References

Further reading

External links