Filippo Bonanni

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Filippo Bonanni or Buonanni (1658-1723) was Italian Jesuit scholar, born in Rome. Among his many works of erudition are the two-volume Numismata Pontificum Romanorum in (1699), and the Gabinetto Armonico in 1723, a splendid collection of 150 engravings of musical instruments from around the world.

[edit] Scientific work

Bonanni was an ecclesiastic without true scientific training or experience but he made excellent observations embodied in three works.

Ricreatione dell' occhio e della mente.

Bonanni was a shell collector and was the author of the first book devoted solely to seashells, published in Rome in 1681. Several later Linnaean names were based on his illustrations. ^[1]

Observationes circa Viventia, quae in Rebus non Viventibus

Using a three lens microscope Bonanni tried to show that spontaneous generation was possible in animals "without blood and a heart" in contradiction of Francesco Redi ’s experimental work. The compilation of knowledge and quality of illustrations made this an important work.

Musaeum Kircherianum, sive Musaeum a P.A. Krichero in Collegio Romano Societatis Jesu... descriptum

In 1698 Bonanni was appointed curator of the well-known cabinet of curiosities (collection of antiquities) gathered by Athanasius Kircher and lodged in the Jesuit Collegio Romano. He published a catalogue of the collection in 1709 in Rome.

[edit] References

1. ^ Buonanni's Chiocciole (1681)