ARDUINO, GIOVANNI. – Geologist, born in Caprino Veronese in 1714 and died in Venice in 1795.
When paleontology was not yet a science in its own right, A. affirmed the full importance of fossils in determining the succession of the earth’s strata: to him are owed the classification and designation of the strata as primary, secondary, tertiary, and quaternary, as well as the criteria used to distinguish them. This merit was recognized by the German von Zitell. He anticipated by 60 years the concept of facies as the ensemble of petrographic and biological characteristics used to identify different geological formations belonging to the same period. He preceded Lyell in affirming actualism, that is, the principle whereby past geological phenomena are studied by comparing them with corresponding phenomena currently taking place under our observation. He was the first to establish geological cartography. He was a practicing Catholic, of simple habits and a pleasant, affable character.