Giosuè Edoard Sangiovanni (15 January 1775 – 17 May 1849) was an Italian

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 ...

, the first professor of

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 ...

in Italy and an early exponent of

evolution Evolution is the change in the heritable Phenotypic trait, characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. It occurs when evolutionary processes such as natural selection and genetic drift act on genetic variation, re ...

. Born at Laurino in 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 ...

, he followed his education in philosophy and mathematics at Naples with medical study at the Ospedale degli Incurabili there. With the fall of the Napoleonic Neapolitan Republic of 1799, Sangiovanni fled to exile in Paris. There, during the Napoleonic Empire he was a pupil of the prominent French zoologists

Jean-Baptiste de Lamarck Jean-Baptiste Pierre Antoine de Monet, chevalier de Lamarck (1 August 1744 – 18 December 1829), often known simply as Lamarck (; ), was a French naturalist, biologist, academic, and soldier. He was an early proponent of the idea that biologi ...

. In his distinguished career Sangiovanni was enrolled as a Chevalier of the

Legion of Honor The National Order of the Legion of Honour ( ), formerly the Imperial Order of the Legion of Honour (), is the highest and most prestigious French national order of merit, both military and civil. Currently consisting of five classes, it was ...

. Sangiovanni was supportive of Lamarck and

Erasmus Darwin Erasmus Robert Darwin (12 December 173118 April 1802) was an English physician. One of the key thinkers of the Midlands Enlightenment, he was also a natural philosophy, natural philosopher, physiology, physiologist, Society for Effecting the ...

's evolutionary ideas. He obtained a copy of ''

Zoonomia ''Zoonomia; or the Laws of Organic Life'' (1794–96) is a two-volume medical work by Erasmus Darwin dealing with pathology, anatomy, psychology, and the functioning of the body. Its primary framework is one of associationist psychophysiology ...

'' and walked around Paris for several weeks with it in his pocket.Corsi, Pietro. (2005). ''Before Darwin: Transformist Concepts in European Natural History''. ''

Journal of the History of Biology The ''Journal of the History of Biology'' is a quarterly peer-reviewed academic journal covering the history of biology as well as philosophical and social issues confronting biology. It is published by Springer Science+Business Media and the edito ...

'' 38: 67-83. Called to

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 ...

in 1806, at the reorganization of the

university A university () is an educational institution, institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly ...

, he planned and brought to fruition the university's ''Museo Zoologico'' and held the first chair of comparative anatomy in the faculty of natural sciences. He died after an extended illness, in retirement at

Posillipo Posillipo (; ) is an affluent residential quarter of Naples, southern Italy, located along the northern coast of the Gulf of Naples. From the 1st century BC the Bay of Naples witnessed the rise of villas constructed by elite Romans along the mo ...

near Naples.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sangiovanni, Giosue 1775 births 1849 deaths Italian zoologists Proto-evolutionary biologists People of the Parthenopean Republic People from the Kingdom of Naples Scientists from the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies