Editing Prospero Alpini (section)

== Biography ==
[[File:Coffee Alpinus.jpg|left|thumb|Alpini referred to this tree as Bon and noted the popularity of the drink caova made from it. It is thought to be ''Coffea arabica''.]]
Born at [[Marostica]], a town near [[Vicenza]], the son of Francesco, a physician, Alpini served in his youth for a time in the [[Duchy of Milan|Milanese]] army, but in 1574 he went to study medicine at [[Padua]].  After taking his doctor's degree in 1578, he settled as a physician in Campo San Pietro, a small town in the Paduan territory.  But his tastes were botanical and influenced by Melchiorre Guilandino, and to extend his knowledge of exotic plants he travelled to [[Egypt]] in 1580 as physician to Giorgio Emo, the Venetian consul in [[Cairo]].<ref>{{cite web |last1=Zago |first1=Roberto |title=EMO, Giorgio |url=https://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/giorgio-emo_res-b2b39f4b-87ec-11dc-8e9d-0016357eee51_(Dizionario-Biografico)/?search=EMO%2C%20Giorgio%2F |website=Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani |publisher=Treccani |access-date=7 November 2024}}</ref> The position was obtained with help from Antonio Morosini. From 1587 to 1590 he worked in Venice, Bassano and then at Genoa as physician to [[Giovanni Andrea Doria]].<ref>{{cite journal|author1=De Santo, Natale G.|author2=Aliotta, Gianni|author3=Bisaccia, Carmela|author4=Di Iorio, Biagio|author5=Cirillo, Massimo|author6=Ricciardi, Biagio|author7=Savica, Vincenzo|author8=Ongaro, Giuseppe|year=2013|title=De Medicina Aegyptiorum by Prospero Alpini (Venice, Franciscus de Franciscis, 1591)|url=http://accesso.sinitaly.org/archivio/archiviojn/eventi/SIN/archivio/jn/2013/jnephrol_2013_S22/JNEPHROL-D-13-00218_117-123.pdf|journal=Journal of Nephrology|volume=26|issue=Suppl. 22|pages=117–123|pmid=24375355|doi=10.5301/jn.5000354|doi-broken-date=1 November 2024}}</ref>

In [[Egypt]] he spent three years, and from a practice in the management of [[Date Palm|datepalm]]s, which he observed in that country, he learned of sexual difference in plants, which was later to become important in the foundation of the [[Linnaean taxonomy]] system.  He says that "the female date-trees or palms do not bear fruit unless the branches of the male and female plants are mixed together; or, as is generally done, unless the dust found in the male sheath or male flowers is sprinkled over the female flowers".<ref name="EB1911">{{EB1911|inline=y|wstitle=Alpini, Prospero|volume=1|page=737}}</ref>

On his return, he resided for some time at [[Genoa]] as physician to [[Andrea Doria]], and in 1593 he was appointed professor of botany at Padua. In 1603, following the death of [[Giacomo Antonio Cortuso]] (1513-1603), he was appointed prefect for the botanical garden at Padua. His knowledge of medicinal plants made him a much sought after physician consulted by others such as Fabrici of Acquapendente and Alessandro Massaria. Towards the end of his life he suffered from arthritis, skin inflammation and [[receptive aphasia]]. He died on 6 February 1617 and is buried in the Basilica of Saint Antonio. He was succeeded in the botanical chair by his son Alpino Alpini (died 1637).<ref name="EB1911" /><ref>{{cite encyclopedia   | last = Stannard   | first = Jerry   | title = Alpini, Prospero   | encyclopedia = [[Dictionary of Scientific Biography]]   | volume = 1   | pages = 124–125   | publisher = Charles Scribner's Sons   | location = New York   | year = 1970   | isbn = 978-0-684-10114-9  }}</ref>[[File:Prospero_Alpino.jpg|thumb|1586 painting of Alpini by [[Leandro Bassano]] at the [[Staatsgalerie Stuttgart|Staatsgallerie, Stuttgart]]]]