Filippo Bonanni

 Filippo Bonanni (1658-1723) was Italian Jesuit scholar, born in Rome. In 1698 he was appointed curator of the well-known collection of antiquities formed by Athanasius Kircher. Among his many works of erudition are the two-volume Numismata Pontificum Romanorum in (1699), and the Gabinetto Armonico in 1723, a splendid collection of 150 engravings of musical instruments from around the world.

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Scientific Work Buonanni was an ecclesiastic without true scientific training or experience but he made excellent observations embodied in three works.

• Work on shells

Buonanni was a shell collector and was the author of the first book devoted solely to these animals Ricreatione dell' occhio e della mente. , published in Rome in 1681. [1]

• The defense of spontaneous generation

  Using a three lens microscope Buonanni tried to show that spontaneous generation was possible in animals "without blood and a heart" in contradiction of Francesco Redi ’s experimental work.The compilation of knowledge and quality of illustrations,made Observationes circa Viventia, quae in Rebus non Viventibus an important work.

• The cabinet of curiosities of Kircher

Buonanni published a catalogue of the cabinet of curiosities of Kircher lodged in Collegio Romano of which he was the conservator from 1698.This was published as Musaeum Kircherianum, sive Musaeum a P.A. Krichero in Collegio Romano Societatis Jesu... descriptum etc. in 1709 in Rome.