Giuseppe Saverio Poli e lo sviluppo della scienza tra la fine del Settecento e l’inizio dell’Ottocento

After the first timid attempts during the first half of the XVIII century, the contribution given by Giuseppe Saverio Poli to the establishment of the language of the Galilean experimental science was fundamen- tal for the growing and collecting of the first fruits of the scientific revolution in Italy during Enlightenment. His work as a scrupulous researcher in the field of Natural Sci- ences surpasses in importance that in the field of Physical Sciences. An example is his studies on Mediterranean Testacea, for which he extended the Linnean systematic clas- sification in a truly “scientific” way, to merit him the title of verus fundator of malacolo- gy. However, his contribution to the widespread scientific dissemination in different so- cial strata was unparalleled and particularly effective. His most famous textbook on Ex- perimental Physics introduced a huge number of “students” to the language and method of the new science, so much so that it was even used by literary men such as the young poet Giacomo Leopardi. The personal example of a successful application of the scientific method in the most diverse fields, including those traditionally belonging to the humanities, allowed the development of a new feeling capable of shifting interest from “curiosity” to strictly scientific investigation. Finally, the benevolence earned – justifiably – at the Bourbon court, and equally reciprocated, also allowed scientific progress to be made visible in its technological achievements, starting with the intro- duction in Italy of the marvelous steam engine. In the present contribution, we will an- alyze these fruits of the court enlightenment of Poli, which fundamentally revolution- ized the Kingdom of Naples lasting over time, so as to make it the most scientifically ad- vanced, and technologically fully developed, among the different Italian kingdoms until the Unification of Italy.