La cartografia glaciologica autografa di Federico Sacco

The autographed maps of Federico Sacco, Glaciologist

Abstract

This year (1998) is the fiftieth anniversary of the death of Federico Sacco (1864-1948), a key figure in the history of Italian Geology, founding member of the Italian Glaciological Commission (1895), and Vice President for tens of years of the Italian Glaciological Committee. Sacco, a prolific and productive scientist, left an extensive cartographic collection. The Torino Regional Museum of Natural Science has acquired some 2000 of these autographed maps, of which 650 are dedicated to glaciers and glacial effects from the Pleistocene to the present. These maps, a testimony of seventy years of continuous scientific interest, reveal the main evolutionary stages of the glaciers he studied, while providing valuable, often unedited commentary that reflects the keen observational sense of a renown scholar.