Achille Forti and his collections. The study of biodiversity in history and science

The purpose of the project is to study the figure, the work and the collections of the Veronese botanist Achille Forti (1878-1937). A pupil of Pier Andrea Saccardo, he made significant contributions to the science of algology, becoming a point of reference for many algologists of the time. His collections, which include the Algarium, the Diatom Gallery and the Collection of photographic plates, are preserved in the Padua Botanical Museum, whilst his books and miscellany of botany-related items are kept in the Vincenzo Pinali and Giovanni Marsili historical library of medicine and botany. The research reconstructs Forti’s scientific activity and the history of the Algarium and the Diatom Gallery, as archives of biodiversity. The Algarium (to be digitalized under the project "Digitalization of the Achille Forti algarium" – see above) consists of more than 100 parcels, comprising some 30,000 samples coming from various parts of the world and dating from the period 1850-1936, collected by Forti himself, by colleagues or originating from other herbaria. The Diatom Gallery comprises around 7900 slides with fossilized and recent diatoms, collected and prepared by Forti or deriving from other collections. With this integrated study of Forti's rich and layered collections, his writings and his correspondence, contributions of real interest are being made to current research on biodiversity, through the comparison of past and present and the relationship between history and science.