Francesco Cupani: the “scientific network” of his time and the making of the Linnaean “system”

Abstract

Francesco Cupani, a seventeenth century Sicilian botanist, developed a network of scientific exchanges and connections with the most important scientists of his time. Despite living in considerable isolation, he managed, above all thanks to Sherard, to correspond and exchange with Ray, Commelin, Tournefort, Triumfetti, Volkamer and Böhm. He participated in the intellectual process and debate on the method of classifying plants that he undertook following the comparison and contrast between Linnaeus and Buffon, in formulating the Linnaeus method and in creating the concepts of genera and species. Cupani and other contemporary botanists were not able to establish a system of plant classification. Each of them was so engaged in researching the distinctive characters of individual plants, in avoiding duplications and synonyms, that they could not grasp what they had in common. Linnaeus, giving them notable recognition, placed them in the category of the “Curious”. These pre-Linnaean researchers contributed to the difficult process of overcoming the rigidity of late-Aristotelian classifications, thanks also to the invention of a “scientific network” that enabled the mutual debate and exchange of botanical material (publications, iconography, seeds and exsiccata).

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