Paolo Savi

Paolo Savi (1798-1871), Italian geologist, was born at Pisa. Assistant-lecturer on zoology at the university of his native city when twenty-two years of age, he was appointed professor in 1823, and lectured also on geology. He devoted great attention to the museum of the university, and formed one of the finest natural history collections in Europe. He was regarded as the father of Italian geology. His first paper related to the Bonecaves of Cassano (1825). He studied the geology of Monte Pisano and the Apuan Alps, explaining the metamorphic origin of the Carrara marble; he also contributed essays on the Miocene strata and fossils of Monte Bambolo, the iron-ores of Elba and other subjects. With Giuseppe Meneghini (1811-1889) he published memoirs on the stratigraphy and geology of Tuscany (1850-1851). He became eminent also as an ornithologist, and was author of a great work on the birds of Italy. He died in May 1871.