Giovanni Arduino, Italian miner and geologist (b. 1714)
Giovanni Arduino (16 October 1714 – 21 March 1795) was an Italian geologist who is known as the "Father of Italian Geology".
Arduino was born at Caprino Veronese, Veneto. He was a mining specialist who developed possibly the first classification of geological time, based on study of the geology of northern Italy. He divided the history of the Earth into four periods: Primitive, Secondary, Tertiary, and Volcanic, or Quaternary.
The scheme proposed by Arduino in 1759, which was based on much study of rocks of the southern Alps, grouped the rocks into four series. These were (in addition to the Volcanic or Quaternary) as follows: the Primary series, which consisted of schists from the core of the mountains; the Secondary, which consisted of the hard sedimentary rocks on the mountain flanks; and the Tertiary, which consisted of the less hardened sedimentary rocks of the foothills. Because this arrangement did not always hold true for mountain ranges other than the Alps, the Primary and the Secondary were dropped in the general case. However the term 'Tertiary' has persisted in geological literature until its recent replacement by the Palaeogene and Neogene periods. The last period of the Cenozoic Era, known as the Pleistocene Epoch, is sometimes not included in the notion of the Tertiary. The Cenozoic was studied and further determined by, among others, the English geologist (and mentor of Charles Darwin) Charles Lyell.Giovanni Arduino died in Venice in 1795. The lunar ridge Dorsum Arduino is named after him.
1795Mar, 21
Giovanni Arduino (geologist)
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Events on 1795
- 19Jan
Republic of the Seven United Netherlands
The Batavian Republic is proclaimed in the Netherlands, bringing to an end the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands. - 28Mar
Duchy of Courland and Semigallia
Partitions of Poland: The Duchy of Courland and Semigallia, a northern fief of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, ceases to exist and becomes part of Imperial Russia. - 31May
Revolutionary Tribunal
French Revolution: The Revolutionary Tribunal is suppressed. - 17Jun
Dutch East India Company
The burghers of Swellendam expel the Dutch East India Company magistrate and declare a republic. - 25Nov
Stanisław August Poniatowski
Partitions of Poland: Stanisław August Poniatowski, the last king of independent Poland, is forced to abdicate and is exiled to Russia.