Anton Dohrn

Felix Anton Dohrn, ( September 29, 1840 - September 26, 1909) was a prominent Darwinist, and the founder and first director of the Stazione Zoologica, Naples, Italy.,

Foundation of the Stazione Zoologica

In 1870 Dohrn decided that Naples would be a better place for his Station. This choice was due to the greater biological richness of the Gulf of Naples and also to the possibility of starting a research institute of international importance in a large university town that itself had a strong international element.

Related Topics:
Naples - Biological richness - Gulf of Naples

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After a visiting a newly opened aquarium in Berlin he decided the charging the general public to visit an aquarium might earn the laboratory enough money to pay a salary to a permanent assistant. Naples, with a population of 500,000 inhabitants, was one of the largest and most attractive cities of Europe and also had a considerable flow of tourists (30,000 a year) that would be potential visitors to the Aquarium.

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Dohrn overcame the doubts of the city authorities and persuaded them to give him, free-of-charge, a plot of land at the sea edge, in the beautiful Villa Comunale on the condition that he promised to build the Stazione Zoologica at his own expense.

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Dohrn opened the station to visiting scientists in September 1873, and to the general public in January 1874.

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