Giovanni Battista Brocchi

Who was Giovanni Battista Brocchi?

Giovanni Battista Brocchi was an Italian naturalist, mineralogist and geologist.

He was born in Bassano del Grappa, Italy, and studied jurisprudence at the University of Padova, but his attention was turned to mineralogy and botany. In 1802 he was appointed professor of botany in the new lyceum of Brescia; but he more especially devoted himself to geological researches in the adjacent districts. The fruits of these labors appeared in different publications, particularly in his Trattato mineralogico e chemico sulle miniere di ferro del dipartimento del Mella a treatise on the iron mines of Mella. These researches procured him the office of inspector of mines in the recently established kingdom of Italy, and enabled him to extend his investigations over a great part of the country.

In 1811 Brocchi produced a valuable essay entitled Memoria mineralogica sulla Valle di Fassa in Tirolo; but his most important work is the Conchiologia fossile subapennina con osservazioni geologiche sugli Apennini, e sul suolo adiacente, containing accurate details of the structure of the Apennine range, and an account of the fossils of the Italian Tertiary strata compared with existing species.