Giuseppe Olivi

He had wide interests, which stretched from chemistry, where he supported the theories of Antoine Lavoisier, passing through mineralogy and agriculture, to botany, with particular reference to algae.

He stood out among the late eighteenth century Italian naturalists in his independent outlook, questioning the theories prevalent at the time, and considering the ecological aspects of the animals he studied, and the impact they had on the environment.

[1] Olivi was interested in the infusoria discovered by Antonie van Leeuwenhoek, the microscopic living organisms present in water whose existence had previously been unknown.

He studied the Adriatic Sea, being one of the first naturalists to make observations under the water; he found great variations in the structure of the seabed and its associated fauna which inspired the palaeontologist Giovanni Battista Brocchi in his study of the strata and fossils of the Apennines.

It included descriptions of such invertebrates as Vorticella, Volvox and Hydra,[3] and the sponge Suberites domuncula.