Michele Lessona
Michele Lessona | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | 20 September 1823 |
| Died | 20 July 1894 (aged 70) Turin, Italy |
| Nationality | Italian |
| Alma mater | University of Turin |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Natural sciences, Zoology |
Michele Lessona (20 September 1823, Venaria Reale, Piedmont – 20 July 1894, Turin) was an Italian zoologist.
Michele Lessona became a specialist in amphibians. His accomplishments include translating certain works of Darwin, for example, The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex.
Biography
[edit]Lessona studied medicine in Turin, afterwards relocating to Egypt, where he worked in a hospital outside of Cairo as hospital director at Karnak.[1] From 1850 he studied natural sciences at Turin, and in the meantime found employment as a secondary school teacher. In 1854 he attained the chair of mineralogy and zoology at the University of Genoa.
In 1862, with Filippo de Filippi, he took part in a scientific and diplomatic mission to Persia, and after his return to Italy, he was named chair of zoology at the University of Bologna in 1863.[1] In 1867 he became chair of zoology and comparative anatomy at the University of Turin.[2] He was the first to translate Darwin's The Descent of Man into Italian, in 1871.[3] He was also a Senator of the Kingdom from 1877 to 1894.[1]
Eponyms
[edit]Lessona has several herpetological species named after him, such as Pelophylax lessonae,[4] Diploglossus lessonae,[5] and Trapelus lessonae.[5]
Works
[edit]Partial list
- Volere è potere, 1869. Florence.
- Carlo Darwin. 1883. Reissued by Kessinger, 2009, ISBN 978-1-104-06962-9.
- Venti anni fa 1884. Reissued by Kessinger, 2009, ISBN 978-1-104-52050-2.
- Le cacce in Persia. 1884. Rome. Reissued by Kessinger, 2010, ISBN 9781167477102.
References
[edit]- ^ a b c Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2013-04-22). The Eponym Dictionary of Amphibians. Pelagic Publishing. ISBN 978-1-907807-42-8.
- ^ Library of the Department of Animal and Human Biology – Università degli Studi di Torino Archived 2013-02-18 at archive.today (biographical information)
- ^ Glick, Thomas F.; Shaffer, Elinor (2014-05-22). The Literary and Cultural Reception of Charles Darwin in Europe. A&C Black. ISBN 978-1-78093-712-0.
- ^ Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2013). The Eponym Dictionary of Amphibians. Exeter, England: Pelagic Publishing Ltd. xiii + 262 pp. ISBN 978-1-907807-41-1. ("Lessona", p. 124).
- ^ a b Beolens B, Watkins M, Grayson M (2011). The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. ISBN 978-1-4214-0135-5. ("Lessona", p. 156).
External links
[edit]- Works by Michele Lessona at Project Gutenberg
- Works by or about Michele Lessona at the Internet Archive
- Google Books The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles by Bo Beolens, Michael Watkins, Michael Grayson.
- torinoscienza In Italian
- WorldCat Identities (list of published works)
