CACrown ArchivesThe cinema collection
Menu
Research dossier · People & Ideas

Giuseppe Saverio Poli

Italian scientist (1746-1825)

Correspondence, annotated notebooks and portrait silhouettes prepared for research
People and ideasInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionAug 26, 2026
Entity authorityQ1448895
Source-derived summary

Giuseppe Saverio Poli (26 October 1746 – 7 April 1825) was an Italian physicist, biologist and natural historian.

His collections, together with those stored in the Royal Bourbon Museum, were the foundation of the Zoological Museum of Naples. The specimens were from locations all over the world, and included especially, Lepidoptera, Cnidaria and Mollusca.

Biography

Giuseppe Saverio Poli was born in 1746 and was the son of Vito Angelo di Giuseppe and Eleonora Corlè. In 1766 he enrolled at the University of Padua, where he graduated in medicine. He briefly worked as a doctor in Molfetta, but in 1790 he moved to Naples to teach history and geography at the Nunziatella Military School, for which, once he became commander, with the rank of lieutenant colonel, he took care of the department of physics. In 1775 he toured Europe on behalf of the academy, visiting many seats of learning in Germany, France, England and the Netherlands and meeting naturalists and scientists. This enabled him to equip the physics department with the most modern equipment. He became friends with the Scottish physician and collector William Hunter, who encouraged him to study the molluscs of the Mediterranean, which were then very poorly known. He also added to his personal collection of natural history objects and archaeological artifacts.

Editorial summary

This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Giuseppe Saverio Poli” as italian scientist (1746-1825). Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.

Editorial reviewA useful biographical orientation record, particularly for establishing names, roles and a first chronology. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1746, 1825, 1766, 1790—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1746-10-24. The account is most persuasive where Giuseppe, Saverio and Poli can be independently traced.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The subject matters to the people & ideas register because the source frames it as italian scientist (1746-1825). Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.

Evidence profile

Biographical claims are most persuasive when dates, appointments and relationships can be traced to records created close to the events described. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 26, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1448895. VIAF identifies the subject as 27054599. The Library of Congress control number is n87833889. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1746, 1825, 1766 and 1790.

Critical limits

Public reputation and documentary evidence do not always develop together; absence from a summary is not evidence of historical absence. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.

Best used for
  • Establishing names and roles
  • Building a first chronology
  • Locating cited institutions
Verify next

Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Giuseppe Saverio Poli”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Giuseppe Saverio Poli primary sources, Giuseppe Saverio Poli archive and Giuseppe research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Giuseppe Saverio Poli”?
  2. How has the subject’s reputation changed across later accounts?
  3. Which primary records establish identity, chronology and institutional ties?
Subject index

Search terms from this dossier

Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Giuseppe Saverio Poli” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.