Giorgio Prodi (August 12, 1928 – December 4, 1987) was an Italian medical scientist,

oncologist Oncology is a branch of medicine that deals with the study, treatment, diagnosis, and prevention of cancer. A medical professional who practices oncology is an ''oncologist''. The name's etymological origin is the Greek word ὄγκος (''� ...

and

semiotician Semiotics ( ) is the systematic study of sign processes and the communication of meaning. In semiotics, a sign is defined as anything that communicates intentional and unintentional meaning or feelings to the sign's interpreter. Semiosis is an ...

. Prodi was born in

Scandiano Scandiano ( Reggiano: ) is a town and ''comune'' in Emilia-Romagna, in the northeast part of the country of Italy, near the city of Reggio nell'Emilia and the Secchia river. It had a population of 25,663 as of 31 December 2016. History The cu ...

, Italy in 1928, and studied

medicine Medicine is the science and Praxis (process), practice of caring for patients, managing the Medical diagnosis, diagnosis, prognosis, Preventive medicine, prevention, therapy, treatment, Palliative care, palliation of their injury or disease, ...

and

chemistry Chemistry is the scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a physical science within the natural sciences that studies the chemical elements that make up matter and chemical compound, compounds made of atoms, molecules a ...

at the

University of Bologna The University of Bologna (, abbreviated Unibo) is a Public university, public research university in Bologna, Italy. Teaching began around 1088, with the university becoming organised as guilds of students () by the late 12th century. It is the ...

. From 1958, he taught general pathology and experimental oncology in the same university. He held Italy's first Chair of Oncology. In 1973 he founded the Institute of Cancerology at Bologna, of which he became the first director. He published a series of books on the philosophy of medicine and biology. Together with

Thomas Sebeok Thomas Albert Sebeok (, ; November 9, 1920December 21, 2001) was a Hungarian-born American polymath,Cobley, Paul; Deely, John; Kull, Kalevi; Petrilli, Susan (eds.) (2011). Semiotics Continues to Astonish: Thomas A. Sebeok and the Doctrine of S ...

and

Thure von Uexküll Karl Kuno Thure Freiherr von Uexküll (March 15, 1908, Heidelberg – September 29, 2004, Freiburg) was a German scholar of psychosomatic medicine and biosemiotics. He developed the approach of his father, Jakob von Uexküll, in the study of livi ...

, he developed a semiotic approach in biology (

biosemiotics Biosemiotics (from the Ancient Greek, Greek βίος ''bios'', "life" and σημειωτικός ''sēmeiōtikos'', "observant of signs") is a field of semiotics (especially Neurosemiotics) and biology that studies the prelinguistic meaning-makin ...

) in his works of the 1970s and 1980s.

Umberto Eco Umberto Eco (5 January 1932 – 19 February 2016) was an Italian Medieval studies, medievalist, philosopher, Semiotics, semiotician, novelist, cultural critic, and political and social commentator. In English, he is best known for his popular ...

appreciated Prodi's approach in semiotics. He was also a writer of fiction. His semi-autobiographical novel ''Lazzaro'' (a fictionalised biography of his fellow Scandianese and fellow scientist

Lazzaro Spallanzani Lazzaro Spallanzani (; 12 January 1729 – 11 February 1799) was an Italian Catholic priest (for which he was nicknamed Abbé Spallanzani), biologist and physiologist who made important contributions to the experimental study of bodily function ...

) was awarded the

Premio Grinzane Cavour The Grinzane Cavour Prize (1982–2009) was an Italian literary award established in 1982 by Francesco Meotto. The annual award ceremony took place in the medieval castle of Grinzane Cavour. The goal of the prize was to attract young people to re ...

in 1986.''Lazzaro. Il romanzo di un naturalista del '700''. Brescia: Camunia, 1985. The Institute of Cancerology in the University of Bologna was renamed th
"Giorgio Prodi" Centre of Cancer Research
in his honour. Th
Giorgio Prodi Lecture Hall
in the former monastery of San Giovanni in Monte is also named after him.

Personal life

He was the brother of mathematician Giovanni Prodi, physicist and politician

Vittorio Prodi Vittorio Prodi (19 May 1937 – 29 July 2023) was an Italian politician who served as a member of the European Parliament from 2004 until 2014. He was a member of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats. Biography Prodi was born ...

, and economist

Romano Prodi Romano Prodi (; born 9 August 1939) is an Italian politician who served as President of the European Commission from 1999 to 2004 and twice as Prime Minister of Italy, from 1996 to 1998, and again from 2006 to 2008. Prodi is considered the fo ...

, former Prime Minister of Italy and President of the European Commission. Prodi died in

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 ...

, Italy in 1987.

Works

*Prodi, Giorgio 2021. ''The Material Basis of Meaning''. (Tartu Semiotics Library 22.) Tartu:

University of Tartu Press University of Tartu Press () is a university press and publishing house owned by the University of Tartu, Estonia. Tartu University Press dates its history back to 1632, when University of Tartu was founded. It is the largest university press ...

Open access Open access (OA) is a set of principles and a range of practices through which nominally copyrightable publications are delivered to readers free of access charges or other barriers. With open access strictly defined (according to the 2001 de ...

edition available at https://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/50917

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Prodi, Giorgio Italian semioticians Italian oncologists 1928 births 1987 deaths University of Bologna alumni