Stefano Andrea Renier (25 January 1759,

Chioggia Chioggia (; , ; ) is a coastal town and (municipality) of the Metropolitan City of Venice in the Veneto region of northern Italy. Geography The town is located on a small island at the southern entrance to the Venetian Lagoon about sou ...

, Italy – 6 January 1830,

Padua Padua ( ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) in Veneto, northern Italy, and the capital of the province of Padua. The city lies on the banks of the river Bacchiglione, west of Venice and southeast of Vicenza, and has a population of 20 ...

, Italy) was an Italian naturalist, zoologist and scientist.

Biography

Renier was born into a mainland noble family (not related to the homonymous

Venetian patrician The Venetian patriciate (, ) was one of the three social bodies into which the society of the Republic of Venice was divided, together with citizens and foreigners. was the Imperial, royal and noble ranks, noble title of the members of the Aris ...

family), the son of Domenico Andrea and Caterina Airoldi. He studied in

, where he graduated in medicine in 1781. After graduation, Renier practiced medicine 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 ...

Florence Florence ( ; ) is the capital city of the Italy, Italian region of Tuscany. It is also the most populated city in Tuscany, with 362,353 inhabitants, and 989,460 in Metropolitan City of Florence, its metropolitan province as of 2025. Florence ...

, and

, where he held the position of health officer. In 1806, he was appointed professor 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 ...

at the

University of Padua The University of Padua (, UNIPD) is an Italian public research university in Padua, Italy. It was founded in 1222 by a group of students and teachers from the University of Bologna, who previously settled in Vicenza; thus, it is the second-oldest ...

. In 1814, he was among the professors suspended from teaching because they were suspected of pro-French sentiment. Renier authored important studies in

zoology Zoology ( , ) is the scientific study of animals. Its studies include the anatomy, structure, embryology, Biological classification, classification, Ethology, habits, and distribution of all animals, both living and extinction, extinct, and ...

and

marine biology Marine biology is the scientific study of the biology of marine life, organisms that inhabit the sea. Given that in biology many scientific classification, phyla, family (biology), families and genera have some species that live in the sea and ...

, particularly on

mollusks Mollusca is a phylum of protostomic invertebrate animals, whose members are known as molluscs or mollusks (). Around 76,000 extant species of molluscs are recognized, making it the second-largest animal phylum after Arthropoda. The num ...

and shells of the

Adriatic The Adriatic Sea () is a body of water separating the Italian Peninsula from the Balkans, Balkan Peninsula. The Adriatic is the northernmost arm of the Mediterranean Sea, extending from the Strait of Otranto (where it connects to the Ionian Se ...

, topics on which he published a significant treatise. One of his early works concerned the colonial ascidian genus '' Botryllus'' (Styelidae). He introduced a new method of zoological classification based on the development of the

nervous system In biology, the nervous system is the complex system, highly complex part of an animal that coordinates its behavior, actions and sense, sensory information by transmitting action potential, signals to and from different parts of its body. Th ...

. His research earned praise from

Jean-Baptiste 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 ...

, which brought him European recognition. Later, he was commissioned by the Austrian government to create three marine zoological collections for the universities of

, Padua, and

Pavia Pavia ( , ; ; ; ; ) is a town and comune of south-western Lombardy, in Northern Italy, south of Milan on the lower Ticino (river), Ticino near its confluence with the Po (river), Po. It has a population of c. 73,086. The city was a major polit ...

(''F. Barbagli''). Part of his collection of marine animals was sold in 1818 to the Natural History Cabinet in Vienna. Renier was also a member of Italian and international scientific academies and societies of the time, including the Venetian Institute of Sciences, Letters and Arts. One of his students was Giandomenico Nardo.

Selected works

* ''Sopra il Botrillo piantanimale marino'' (On the marine plant-animal Botrillo), 1793. * ''Sistema attuale e piano di regolazione sulle farine di frumento ad uso e consumo della città di Chiozza e suo territorio'' (Current system and plan of regulation on wheat flour for the use and consumption of the city of Chiozza and its territory), Venice, Dalle Stampe di Antonio Zatta, 1794. * ''Prospetto della classe dei Vermi'' (Overview of the class of Worms), 1804. * ''Tavola alfabetica delle conchiglie Adriatiche'' (Alphabetical table of Adriatic shells), 1807. * ''Tavole per servire alla classificazione e connoscenza degli Animali'' (Tables for the classification and understanding of Animals), 1807. * ''Nuove tavole di zoologia'' (New tables of zoology), 1809. * ''Esame e giudizio ricercato sulla questione di che specie di squalo sia un Ittiolito delle Cave Bolchesi'' (Examination and sought judgment on the question of what species of shark is an Ittiolito delle Cave Bolchesi), Tipografia della Minerva, Padua, 1821. * ''Prospetto della classe dei Vermi'' (Overview of the class of Worms), 1804. * ''Elementi di mineralogia'' (Elements of mineralogy), pp. XX, 616, Tipografia Crescini, Padua, 1823; 1828. * ''Elementi di zoologia'' (Elements of zoology), 1828. * ''Osservazioni postume di Zoologia Adriatica'' (Posthumous observations on Adriatic Zoology), Tipografia Giovanni Cecchini, Venice, 1847.

Bibliography

* Barbagli F.,
La Laguna Veneta e il Museo di Storia Naturale di Pavia
', Rivista di Studi e Ricerche, 18, 2001, pp. 147–156. * Cibin C., ''Stefano Andrea Renier naturalista e riformatore'', 167 p., 1 ritr., CGE, Chioggia, 1981. * De Tipaldo E.,
Biografia degli italiani illustri
', vol. I, pp. 377–380, Tipografia Alvisopoli, Venice, 1834–1840. * Nardo G.D.,
Biografia scientifica di Stefano Andrea Renier
', 56 p., G. Antonelli Editore, Venice, 1847. * Tiozzo P.G., ''Stefano Andrea Renier'', Venice, 1979. * Entry ''Stefano Andrea Renier'', in Enciclopedia Italiana, XXIX, p. 68, Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana, Rome, 1936. * Entry ''Stefano Andrea Renier'', in Enciclopedia Biografica Universale Treccani, XVI, p. 326, Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana, Rome, 2007. * Wurzbach E.V., ''Biographisches Lexikon des Kaiserthums Oesterreich'', vol. XXV, pp. 286–287, Tipografia Alvisopoli, Vienna, 1857.

References

Sources

"Renièr, Stefano Andrea – Treccani"
''

Treccani Institute Giovanni Treccani for the publication of the Italian Encyclopedia (), also known as Treccani Institute or simply Treccani, is a cultural institution of national interest, active in the publishing field, founded by Giovanni Treccani ...

'' (in Italian). Retrieved 2024-02-26.
"RENIER, Stefano Andrea – Treccani"
Enciclopedia Italiana (1936). ''Treccani'' (in Italian). Retrieved 2024-02-26.
"RENIER, Stefano Andrea – Treccani"
Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani – Volume 86 (2016). ''Treccani'' (in Italian). Retrieved 2024-02-26. * Dokumentation, Österreichisches Biographisches Lexikon und biographische (2003). "Renier, Stefano Andrea". ''ISBN 978-3-7001-3213-4'' (in German). Retrieved 2024-02-26. * OpenLibrary.org. "Stefano Andrea Renier". ''Open Library''. Retrieved 2024-02-26.
"ALO docView – 25 Biographisches Lexikon des Kaisertums Österreich (1868)"
''www.literature.at''. Retrieved 2024-02-26.
"Stefano Andrea Renier"
'' worldcat.org''. Retrieved 2024-02-26. {{DEFAULTSORT:Andrea Renier, Stefano Italian naturalists Italian zoologists Italian scientists 19th-century Italian zoologists 18th-century Italian people 1830 deaths 1759 births 19th-century Italian people

Biography

Selected works

Bibliography

See also

References

Sources