Scopoli, Slovenia’s Charles Darwin

Slovenia is marking 300 years since the birth of Joannes Antonius Scopoli, a South Tirolean sent to Idrija to work as a doctor at the mercury mine who blazed a trail in the country's natural sciences.

The pioneer and founder of modern natural sciences on Slovenian lands, Scopoli laid the foundations of many natural sciences, such as biology, botany, geology, medicine and veterinary medicine.

As the Scandinavians are proud of their naturalist Carl Linnaeus (Carl von Linné), as the English are proud of Charles Darwin, so we can be proud of Scopoli, Al Vrezec of the Slovenian...