Giuseppe Checchia-Rispoli
1877
Born in San Severo (Foggia)
1900-1905
He graduated in Natural Sciences at the University of Rome with a thesis in geology, where he supposed the Triassic age of the "Punta delle pietre nere" limestone (Gargano, Foggia); subsequent stratigraphic studies confirmed his intuition.
Spent a period as a volunteer geologist at the Royal Geological Survey of Italy.
Later he moved to the University of Palermo, as assistant to Professor Di Stefano, who was his paleontology teacher.
1908
He obtained his free teaching in Geology, Paleontology and Physical Geography at the University of Palermo, where he remained for five years.
1913
He moved to Rome, after winning the competitive exam, at the Royal Geological Office, where he devoted himself to studies that led to a rich and varied scientific production, including works of stratigraphy, geology and paleontology. Among these the important publication: “Osservazioni geologiche sull'Appennino della Capitanata” (Geological observations on the Apennines of the Capitanata), which consists in the geological and paleontological study of the Province of Foggia, with particular regard to the Gargano peninsula.
The geology and fossil fauna of that area, almost unknown at that time, are illustrated in a still today substantially valid way.
1920 - 1923
He deepened the paleontological studies on Echinodermata and published “Osservazioni sulla morfologia interna dei Clipeastri e loro classificazione”, (Observations on the internal morphology of the Clipeasters and their classification), his first major work on Echinides. Then the work “Nuove osservazioni sulla struttura interna dei Clipeastri” (New observations on the internal structure of the Clipeasters).
1926 - 1935
He won the competitive exam for the chair of Geology at the University of Cagliari from which he passed, after two years, to that of Paleontology in Rome; published the study “Illustrazione dei Clipeastri miocenici della Calabria” (Illustration of the Miocene Clipeasters of Calabria).
In 1935, in addition to the chair of geology, he eventually took on the direction of the Institute.
1939
He published: “Su alcuni Clipeastri miocenici della Calabria” (On some Miocene Clipeasters of Calabria), in the Proceedings of the Royal Academy of Physical and Mathematical Sciences of Naples.
1945
He published: “Di due nuovi generi di Echinidi del Cretaceo della Somalia” (On two new genera of Echinides from the Cretaceous of Somalia).
1947
On October 30, his last working day before retirement, he died inside the Geology Institute of the University where he taught.
Personality with a multifaceted culture and prolific scholar, Checchia Rispoli was a member of the Accademia dei Lincei, the Royal Society of Naples, the Peloritana Academy of Messina, the Gioenia Academy of Catania and the Society of Natural Sciences of Palermo.
He was President of the Geological Committee of the National Research Council and vice president of the Italian Geological Society.
The author's scientific work includes about 185 geological and paleontological publications; he was also the author and co-author of 5 sheets of the Geological Map of Italy at a scale of 1: 100,000 - of which 4 published and a fifth remained unfinished - which remain to document the value of his work as a geologist.
He was also a collaborator and editor of the Italian Encyclopaedia for Paleontology.
In his studies, always very accurate, he managed to solve systematic and stratigraphic issues; as regards fossil species, he was a great expert in Foraminifera and Echinidae, establishing 16 genera and 229 species.
In the course of its activity carried out at the Geological Office, he collected, studied and conserved a considerable number of Echinides from Calabria, Puglia and Sardinia, among which there are some "types". These fossil finds constitute a collection that still bears his name.