Alma Mater Studiorum - Università di Bologna
The University of Bologna is told to
be the first University in the western world, dating back to 1088. In 1158 Federico the First promulgated the Constitutio
Habita, in which the University was legally
declared a place where research could develop independently from any other
power. In the 14th Century, scholars of Medicine, Philosophy, Arithmetic,
Astronomy, Logic, Rhetoric, and Grammar began to collaborate with the School of Jurists, and in 1364, the teaching of
Theology was instituted. Among
others, Dante Alighieri, Francesco Petrarca, Guido Guinizelli, Pico della Mirandola, Nicolò Copernico,
and Erasmus, all studied in Bologna. In the 16th Century
studies of experimental science were instituted: a representative figure of
this period was Ulisse Aldrovandi,
who coined the word Geology in 1603. The history of the University of Bologna is one of great thinkers in science
and the humanities, making it a pivotal institution in the panorama of European
culture.
Dipartimento di Scienze
della Terra e Geologico-Ambientali
The Department was
established in 1995 when the three distinct departments of Geography,
Geology and Palaeontology, and Mineralogy were grouped in a single academic
institution. Together with rich historical libraries, the Department also
includes the Museo Geologico
Giovanni Capellini and the Museo
di Mineralogia Luigi Bombicci. The University of Bologna
has a long and illustrious history of teaching and research in palaeontology.
In the late 1500s Ulisse Aldrovandi is
documented as having formal courses in palaeontology. In 1700s Giuseppe Monti created the first museum entirely dedicated to Palaeontology, and Iacopo Bartolomeo Beccari, with improved
microscopes, discovered and described foraminifera. From 1850, Giovanni Capellini acquired valuable palaeontological collections
from Europe
and North America for the museum that today bears his name. Raimondo Selli studied
the correlation between marine and continental successions and promoted the
construction of the new Department building.
Museo Geologico Giovanni Capellini
The Museum was officially
opened in 1881 when Giovanni Capellini hosted
the Second International
Geological Congress
in Bologna.
Among the historical documents and collections preserved in the
Museum those of the Aldrovandi
Museum of Natural History, considered as the oldest in the world, dating back
to 1549, are of paramount importance. Today the Museum includes more than a
million specimens; it wishes to draw attention on the international scene not
only because of its history, but above all to act as an intermediary for all
studies involving top quality research on geology, palaeobotany
and palaeontology. In fact, the presence of the largest collections of Europe and its scientific,
academic, and cultural leadership position enabled Bologna
to compete - and often outpace - institutions in more affluent cities. The
recently renewed Diplodocus hall houses the original cast of the Diplodocus carnegiei that Andrew Carnegie himself donated to King Vittorio
Emanuele the Third in 1909. After a century, the
Diplodocus is still a symbol of the international prestige of Bologna
and the Museo Capellini.
