Gaetano Giorgio Gemmellaro

Here he met Arcangelo Scacchi, who introduced him to natural sciences, specifically geology and mineralogy, disciplines in which Gemmellaro published a series of memoirs.

During this time, he met the English geologist Charles Lyell, who employed Gemmellaro to study the stratigraphy of the Etna lava, in exchange for two publications in the annals of the Geological Society of London.

This experience resulted, in the same year, in political and academic positions, in that Antonio Mordini, pro-dictator of Sicily, appointed him Secretary of State for Public Education and full professor of the University of Palermo.

He discovered layers of paleozoic fossils in the Sosio river valley, which proved useful for reconstructing the genetic link of the ammonites, in comparison with similar material from Tibet, Texas and the Alps.

Gemmellaro married Maria Pantaleo, with whom on 18 December 1879 he had a son, Mariano, who died early in 1921 after following in his father's footsteps at the University of Palermo.