Giuseppe Averani
Giuseppe Averani FRS or Averanus (March 20, 1662, Pisa – August 24, 1738, Florence) was an Italian jurist and naturalist.
Biography
The son of a mathematician, he studied arts and law at the University of Pisa. His brother Benedetto Averani (1645-1707) was a prominent bibliophile and philologist of Florence, teaching Greek language at the University of Pisa.
In 1685, Giuseppe was appointed to a professorship of civil law at Pisa, a post he held until his death. As a celebrated legal teachers in Tuscany, his pupils included leading figures of the Italian Enlightenment such as P. Neri, B. Tanucci, A. Tavanti and G.G. De Soria, as well as several traveling European princes.
Together with
Apart from law, Averani was active in theology, astronomy, philosophy and above all experimental physics. The results of his experiments, such as on light, odours, the electricity of bodies and with Robert Boyle's air pump, were well received by contemporaries, including Newton. A member of scientific academies including the Crusca and the Royal Society, Averani founded the Accademia degli Oppressi (Academy of the Oppressed) to hold discussions on physics.
Works
- Lezioni toscane (in Italian). Vol. 2. Florence: Gaetano Albizzini. 1744.
- Lezioni toscane (in Italian). Vol. 2. Florence: Gaetano Albizzini. 1746.
- Lezioni toscane (in Italian). Vol. 3. Florence: Gaetano Albizzini. 1761.
Manuscripts
- Historia Pandectarum Pisanarum (17th century) (in Latin). Florence, )
References
- Weimar, Peter (2001). "Giuseppe Averani". In Michael Stolleis (ed.). Juristen: ein biographisches Lexikon; von der Antike bis zum 20. Jahrhundert (in German) (2nd ed.). München: Beck. p. 50. ISBN 3-406-45957-9.
- Carranza, Nicola (1962). "AVERANI, Giuseppe". ISBN 978-8-81200032-6.
- Biographical entry, website of the Institute and Museum of the History of Science, Florence, accessed January 2007