Giuseppe Ramazzotti, engineer and author, is known for his studies of

tardigrade Tardigrades (), known colloquially as water bears or moss piglets, are a phylum of eight-legged segmented micro-animals. They were first described by the German zoologist Johann August Ephraim Goeze in 1773, who called them . In 1776, th ...

s. A genus of tardigrades, ''

Ramazzottius ''Ramazzottius'' is a genus of water bear or moss piglet, a tardigrada, tardigrade in the class Eutardigrada, named after the Italian zoologist Giuseppe Ramazzotti. ''Ramazzottius varieornatus'' (see image) is a terrestrial invertebrate that is ...

'', is dedicated to him.

Biography

Giuseppe Ramazzotti was the only child of Ausano Ramazzotti (founder of the

liqueur A liqueur ( , ; ) is an alcoholic drink composed of Liquor, spirits (often rectified spirit) and additional flavorings such as sugar, fruits, herbs, and spices. Often served with or after dessert, they are typically heavily sweetened and un-age ...

factory Amaro Ramazzotti) and Maria Ferrario, in

1923 In Greece, this year contained only 352 days as 13 days was skipped to achieve the calendrical switch from Julian to Gregorian Calendar. It happened there that Wednesday, 15 February ''(Julian Calendar)'' was followed by Thursday, 1 March ' ...

he married Angelina Buzzati, sister of Adriano Buzzati Traverso and

Dino Buzzati Dino Buzzati-Traverso (; 14 October 1906 – 28 January 1972) was an Italian novelist, short story writer, painter and poet, as well as a journalist for ''Corriere della Sera''. His worldwide fame is mostly due to his novel '' The Tartar St ...

, with whom he had daughters Alba Maria and Laura. He volunteered as a officer of the

Alpini The Alpini are the Italian Army's specialist mountain infantry. Part of the army's infantry corps, the speciality distinguished itself in combat during World War I and World War II. Currently the active Alpini units are organized in two operati ...

in the Mandrone battalion on the Adamello mountains and on the

Tonale Pass Tonale Pass () (el. 1883 m./6178 ft.) is a high mountain pass in northern Italy across the Rhaetian Alps, between Lombardy and Trentino. It connects Valcamonica and Val di Sole. It is delimited by the Ortler Alps to the nort ...

during the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. After the war he graduated in

chemical engineering Chemical engineering is an engineering field which deals with the study of the operation and design of chemical plants as well as methods of improving production. Chemical engineers develop economical commercial processes to convert raw materials ...

, setting up a chemical laboratory near his home. He was a

radio amateur An amateur radio operator is someone who uses equipment at an amateur radio station to engage in two-way personal communications with other amateur operators on radio frequencies assigned to the amateur radio service. Amateur radio operators ...

, starting an industrial radio production business (Radio Apparecchi Milano), but it went bankrupt through the actions of a business partner. From the 1930s he worked as an engineer at

Ducati Ducati Motor Holding S.p.A () is an Italian motorcycle manufacturing company headquartered in Bologna, Italy. History Barely a month after the official liberation of Italy in 1944, SIATA announced its intention to sell this engine, called ...

, which produced

capacitor In electrical engineering, a capacitor is a device that stores electrical energy by accumulating electric charges on two closely spaced surfaces that are insulated from each other. The capacitor was originally known as the condenser, a term st ...

s, and in the 1940s he was appointed president of the "Società scientifica radio brevetti Ducati". He developed a passion for natural sciences and for

tobacco pipe A tobacco pipe, often called simply a pipe, is a device specifically made to smoke tobacco. It comprises a chamber (the bowl (smoking), bowl) for the tobacco from which a thin hollow stem (shank) emerges, ending in a mouthpiece. Pipes can range ...

s. He was the largest collector of pipes in

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

and, under the name of Eppe Ramazzotti, he published several books, including ''Il libro delle pipe'' ("The Book of Pipes") in 1966, co-written with his brother-in-law Dino Buzzati. He also wrote on many other subjects: in the mid-1940s he published books on trains, spiders, the moon, and power stations.

Zoology of tardigrades

During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, after Milan was bombed in 1942, he and his family fled to

Abano Terme Abano Terme (known as Abano Bagni until 1924) is a town and ''comune'' in the Province of Padua, in the Veneto region, Italy, on the eastern slope of the Euganean Hills; it is southwest by rail from Padua. Abano Terme's population is 19,062 (20 ...

and then to

Belluno Belluno (; ; ) is a town and province in the Veneto region of northern Italy. Located about north of Venice, Belluno is the Capital (political), capital of the province of Belluno and the most important city in the Eastern Dolomites region. W ...

; here his other brother-in-law Adriano suggested that he combine his interests in nature and the microscope, studying

s, which soon became another great passion. The whole family moved to

Ghiffa Ghiffa (Ghifa in Lombard) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Verbano-Cusio-Ossola in the Italian region Piedmont, located about northeast of Turin and about northeast of Verbania on the western shore of the Lake Maggiore. It is m ...

and then to

Pallanza Pallanza is a district of the Italian ''comune'' (municipality) of Verbania. It is located in the Province of Verbano-Cusio-Ossola, on the bank of Lake Maggiore. History Pallanza was autonomous until 1939 when it was merged with Intra to for ...

after the armistice of 1943; here he began to frequent the Italian Institute of Hydrobiology, forming a strong friendship with Vittorio Tonolli and his wife Livia Pirocchi. On the subject of tardigrades, Ramazzotti published important texts for the time and described numerous species. In 1962, he proposed the

phylum In biology, a phylum (; : phyla) is a level of classification, or taxonomic rank, that is below Kingdom (biology), kingdom and above Class (biology), class. Traditionally, in botany the term division (taxonomy), division has been used instead ...

Tardigrada. At the age of sixty (in 1968) he became a professor at the

University of Milan The University of Milan (; ), officially abbreviated as UNIMI, or colloquially referred to as La Statale ("the State niversity), is a public university, public research university in Milan, Italy. It is one of the largest universities in Eu ...

Legacy

Ramazzotti died in 1986 and was buried, according to his wishes, near Dino Buzzati, in the chapel of Villa Buzzati in San Pellegrino (a hamlet of

). His pipe collection (which at that point numbered about 1500 pieces) was purchased by a collector friend of his, Fritz Bailender. The natural history collections have been divided between 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 ...

(minerals), the Museo Civico di Storia Naturale di Verona (tardigrades) and the at Pallanza. From 1974, at the suggestion of Livia Pirocchi Tonolli, who was by then a professor, regular Tardigrade Symposia have been held in Ramazzotti's honour. The first symposium was held in Pallanza at the Italian Institute of Hydrobiology.

Biography

Zoology of tardigrades

Legacy

Works

References

External links