Giovanni Giuseppe Bianconi


Giovanni Giuseppe Bianconi, sometimes J. Josephi or Joseph Bianconi, was an Italian zoologist, herpetologist, botanist and geologist.

Career

Bianconi was a Professor of Natural History at the University of Bologna. In the field of herpetology he described several new species of amphibians and reptiles.
In 1874, Bianconi published a book on "independent creations", which utilized zoological arguments against Darwinism. The first edition was printed in French and contained a letter to Charles Darwin. The book sold well and Bianconi and his son Giovanni Antonio published a revised Italian edition in 1875. Bianconi argued that "enlightened application of laws of mechanics, physics, physiology" led to the conclusion that every part of an organism had been created by the "unlimited intelligence" of God.
Bianconi argued that homologous structures are explained on mechanical principles. Darwin briefly mentioned Bianconi and rejected his arguments in a footnote in his The Descent of Man.

Selected publications

He published numerous papers, in both Italian and Latin, in the journal Novi Commentarii Academiae Scientiarum Instituti Bononiensis and its successor Memorie della Accademia delle Scienze dell'Istituto di Bologna.