REDIA, XCV, 2012: 93-100 OBITUARY PIO FEDERICO ROVERSI (*) REMEMBRANCES OF BACCIO BACCETTI (1) (*) Consiglio per la ricerca e la sperimentazione in agricoltura, Research Centre for Agrobiology and Pedology Dear Academicians, Ladies and Gentlemen We are gathered here today to remember and pay tribute to a man who left his mark in various fields of scientific knowledge for more than 50 years, always in the forefront of what was known or supposed to be known, with the gaze and the desire to go beyond, whether dealing with human sterility, biogeography of animal populations, tax- onomy, functional morphology or physiology, there was no difference. As he wrote in his curriculum, Baccio Baccetti began to regularly frequent the Royal Entomology Station in the heart of Florence in 1941, at the age 10. A young boy in an institute dedicated, since its establishment in 1875, to the study of insects, sitting with his books, his collections and his microscopes in rooms not far from the workplaces of pioneering scientists long hosted and protected by the Medici dynasty in difficult times for those who dared to explore the mechanisms of life. At just 21 years old, two years before graduating, he had already published in REDIA his first studies on the orthopterans of the Tuscan islands. At 23, he graduated with honours and the publication of his thesis. By 25, he had published 16 papers, mostly in international journals. At 28, he was an Experimenter in Florence’s Entomology Sta tion, at 33 Temporary Pro fessor of Human Genetics in the Department of Medicine and Genetics of the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Siena. At 34, he was Full Fig. I – Baccio Baccetti in the “Tribuna di Galileo” at the “Specola Museum”, Florence, during the celebration of the centenary of Professor of Biology and General Zoology in the Faculty of REDIA Journal in the 2003. Medicine and Temporary Professor of Zoology in the Faculty of Sciences in Siena. Between 1972 and 1988, he was the Italian Delegate, Vice-President and then President of the Organizing Committee for the International Congress of Entomology. From 1988, he was Director of the Centre for the Study of Germ Cells of the Italian CNR, and from 1995 to 2011, President of the Italian National Academy of Entomology. Baccetti had a long career with more than 600 scientific publications and incredibly high scores in all types of bib- liometric computations today so beloved by accountants of research. We also cannot overlook his participation in the editorial boards of journals such as the Journal of Ultrastructural Molecular Research, International Journal of Insect Morphology and Embryology, Molecular Reproduction and Development, International Journal of Developmental Biology, Tropical Zoology, Animalia, Asian Journal of Zoological Science, Acta Entomologica Bohe - moslovacca, and Zygote. He was also a correspondent for 1 Commemoration held in the Public session of the Italian Fig. II – Cover of the book on “Evolutionary biology of Orthop - National Academy of Entomology; Florence, 18 February 2012. teroid insects” edited by Baccetti in the 1987. – Received 15 October 2012 Accepted 2 November 2012 Published 4 December 2012 94 P.F. ROVERSI REDIA, Vol. XCV, 2012 The list of Baccetti’s fields of research, sometimes very dis- tant from each other, is very long, but he obtained innovative results in all of them: some examples are the studies on col- lagen in arthropods, the morphology of the eye in arachnids and the ultrastructure of the integument of Tardigrada (Baccetti et al., 1962; Baccetti and Rosati, 1971). Fig. III – Distribution of enzymatic sistems in malpighian tubu- Fig. IV – Acroneuroptila sardoa n. gen. n. sp. (Baccetti, 1959). les of Bactrocera (Dacus) oleae (Gmelin) (Baccetti, 1962). However, it all began with the study of the Orthoptera, a the science pages of the newspapers La Stampa of Turin group Baccetti never abandoned and to which he dedicat- and Il Giornale of Milan. ed all kinds of studies, describing new genera and species. Also of importance is the list of texts published as author In fact, he continued with research on orthopterans even or editor: for example, the treatises on General Biology and when his reputation for world-class research on animal and Zoology, the volumes Biology of Sperm Cells in 1976, human reproduction might have distracted him complete- Comparative Spermatology in 1970, Evo lu tionary Biology ly from a topic to which he undoubtedly gave his time of Othop teroid Insects in 1987, Compa rative Sperma - because of his passion as an “entomologist”. Baccetti’s pub- tology 20 Years After in 1991. To these we must add the lications on the Orthoptera alone merit much time and proceedings of international congresses on HIV-related attention, which we do not have available today. However, research, a field far removed from what we are used to dis- I wanted to at least mention his work dedicated to cave- cussing here, but which helps to illustrate the facility with dwelling orthopterans. which Baccio moved within the Italian scientific panorama. His was frontline research but he also had the ability to In 2003, Baccetti agreed to participate in the challenge to say without mincing words that each new field of study, revive the journal REDIA on the centenary of its first pub- technique or equipment (even the most advanced) usable lication in 1903 by Antonio Berlese, becoming the journal’s for the study of entomology (and not only that) cannot new Editor. In closing the opening article of the volume of exist without a solid foundation in the traditional sectors. the new series, he wrote: “What I like, after all, is to breathe Indeed, Baccetti wrote in the proceedings of the XI Italian once again the atmosphere of another adventure, which in Entomology Congress in Portici in his paper “Attualità research always brings enthusiasm and appeal.” della faunistica entomologia” (“News of the entomological Baccetti was involved in very many research fields, and fauna”) “… there is above all the need for a return of the best his contributions to histochemistry cannot be ignored. minds to systematics. This is due to the accurate observation Indeed, our Acade my recently dedicated a day to current that if systematics dies all of biology dies…” (Baccetti, 1978). studies on Malpi ghian tubules. In this regard, we should His gaze, from the beginning of his long career, was remember the results Baccetti obtained half a century ago directed toward the future horizons of basic research, yet with ultrastructural and histochemical investigations of he was never indifferent to the problems of the phytosani- these organs, beginning with the study on the Diaspinae tary defence of agricultural crops. In this regard, we can (Baccetti, 1961) and culminating in the definition of the remember his 1960 works on the Coleoptera histochemical organization of the Malpighian tubules of Curculionidae harmful to forage legumes and from the larvae and adults of Dacus oleae (Mazzi, Baccetti, Mas - same year the work published with Melis on “Metodi di simello, 1962). lotta vecchi e nuovi sperimentati contro i principali fitofagi REMEMBRANCES OF BACCIO BACCETTI 95 Fig. VI – Coeliodes solarii n. sp. (Baccetti, 1959). sostenibilità ambientale” (“Biodiversity of insects and envi- ronmental sustainability”) during the Italian Congress in Perugia in 2005; this subject was tackled with his typical ability to communicate amicably with the ancients in order to delineate the paths for the future. Not by chance, at the Fig. V – Intestinal epithelium of the grasshoper Aiolopus end of this work, he stressed the importance of cultural bio- strepens Latr. after treatment with 1-metil N-metilcarbammate diversity (called freedom), which is purely phenotypic and (Baccetti, 1962). desperately defended by man; Baccetti asked us not to for- get the lessons deriving from the clumsy attempts by all the worst dictatorships to lay their hands on cultural biodiversi- ty with tragic pseudoscientific experiments (Baccetti, 2005). dell’olivo in Toscana” (“Old and new methods of control He was a consummate scientist and technician, since tested against the main phytophagous pests of olives in some of his works were devoted to the perfecting of tech- Tuscany”). niques for the preparation of biological materials (e.g. crit- To this research, we must add the studies in the early ical point drying for the conservation of larvae and adults 1960s on the use of ionizing radiation for the sterilization of insects with a soft integument (Baccetti, 1975) and the of insects (Baccetti, 1961; Baccetti, Zocchi, 1962), which development of innovative observation methods in the were accompanied by investigations on alterations of the field of electron microscopy. intestinal epithelium. From such a beginning, was growing up in a normal Also belonging to the field of defence against harmful manner a possibility for a boy who was able to add to the species is a work on the control strategies used against the world around him such boundless curiosity and rare yellow spider mite of vines “Prove di lotta condotte in insight? These qualities were accompanied by an incredible Toscana contro … Eutetranychus carpini vi tis Dossé” ease of writing about scientific things, with rare elegance (“Control trials conducted in Tu scany against… Eute trany - and sometimes with natural and gentle irony, writing equal- chus carpini vitis Dossé”) (Bac cetti, Pegaz zano, 1961). ly about anatomy, physiology, academic stories and dis- Baccetti was also a forest entomologist, able to describe putes that were almost obligatory in the role playing that new species in forest ecosystems, as in the case of Coeliodes Baccetti encountered as a researcher, teacher and member solarii (Baccetti, 1959), or to write comprehensive treatises of many academies and scientific associations. of entire groups, as for the work “Le cocciniglie italiane It is well worth remembering the description he gave of delle Cupressacee” (“The Italian scale insects of Cupressa - entomologists: “As the class of Insects is among the most spe- ceae”), published in REDIA in 1960, a reference work still cialized and evolved in the animal kingdom, its study has used today.