Michele Gortani

Gortani was born in Friuli to engineer Luigi and Angela Grassi in Lugo, Spain where his father then worked.

He worked as a geological assistant at Perrugia University in 1905 and at Bologna from 1906 to 1910, and Turin (1911–1913).

He volunteered in the Alpini (Alpine troops) during World War I and was court-martialled for criticising the Italian Army command for their poor planning.

[1] He studied Paleozoic fossils from the Karakoram and in 1936–1938 went on expeditions to the Italian colonial regions of Ethiopia and Eritrea.

He served as a member of the Christian Democratic Party in the Italian Assembly from 1948 to 1953 and was instrumental in the production of geological map of Italy (which was completed in 1970).