Nicola Parravano

Nicola Parravano was bom on 21 July 1883 in Fontana di Liri, a commune located about 65 miles southeast of Rome,. His parents were Giuseppe Parravano and Alessandrina Nardone. The Parravanos were one of the most prominent families in Italy the family atmosphere fueled Nicola s innate passion for chemistiy. His paternal grandfather and father, both served as mayors of his birthplace for over forty years, were also both pharmacists. His brother, Luigi, continued the family tradition by studying pharmacy and also by becoming mayor of their hometown from 1926 to 1939. 

Nicola attended elementary school in Fontana di Liri, and followed a classical education in secondary school at Arpino and, later, matriculated at the University of Rome. 

he graduated in chemistry with honors and, after a short period as an assistant in the summer semester of 1909, he obtained a scholarship, to work in Walther Nernst s (1864—1941) physical chemistry laboratory in Berlin. On Parravano s return to Italy, he pursued more deeply his research on the manufacmre of steel, cement, and explosives. In 1911, for two years, he was deputy director of the chemical laboratory (in Rome) for explosive substances. He remmed to the fold of the University of Rome in 1913 and developed an interest in metallurgy under the guidance of Emanuele Patemo (1847-1935). Over lime, he became a dominant presence within the chemical community. Thus, at only thirty years of age, Nicola Parravano became the chair of Chemistiy and Technology at the Royal University of Padua (1913) and, in 1915, that of Physical Chemistry (the first established in Italy) at the Florence Institute of Higher Practical Studies and Specialization. In 1917, the Royal Academy of the Lined awarded Parravano the Royal Prize in Chemistry. 

Nicola Parravano, despite a relatively short career in science, was author of over 150 scientific monographs, of which less than half a dozen were associated with the period of his stay in Florence. In Florence, chemical research had been stalled for over 10 years, ever since Augusto Piccini died in 1905. Ugo Schiff, nearly 80 years old, was ubiquitous in the laboratory but mentally and physically unable to contribute vigorously to new discoveries. To compound matters, the Great War that was consuming the financial and intellectual resources of most of Europe, impelled many members of science departments in Florence to volunteer for the front lines. Consequently, on his arrival in Florence, Parravano found an Institute that was essentially a semi-desert. Even if it were not for the logistic problems that he found. 

However, parallel to the situation at the chemistry institute, Parravano, a shrewd politician, was slowly building his own financial and moral stmcture [143]. He became flagbearer of the idea of science as a social force. He devoted his full support to the fascist regime and from the resultant power base, he received substantial funding. During Mussolini s dictatorship, he was held up as a prototype of the fascist scientist, attentive to technical problems and applications, rather than to basic research [144]. 

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V. Caglioti, "Nicola Parravano e la sua opera scientifica in Sviluppo della scienza dei metalli. Celebrazione del centenario della nascita del socio Nicola Parravano (Roma Accademia Nazionale delle Scienze detta die XL, 1984). 

Carlo Mazzetti, L industria degli olii mineral , in Nicola Parravano, ed.. La chimica in Italia dal 1906 al 1936 (Roma Tipografia edizioni Italia, 1938), p. 55. 

The couple lived in the great ancestral palace in Via deUa Colonna in Florence for just a dozen years. In 1938 Pellizzari, still in good health, traveled to the International Congress of Chemistry, held in Rome, and he attended the sessions and meetings with energy and youthful spirit. On 1 June, on the eve of the session of the Royal Academy of Italy (the former Accademia dei Lincei ) he wrote to Nicola Parravano (who, also, was destined to die suddenly), that he would be... 

Giordani F (1939) Un grande chimico Nicola Parravano. Soc. ital. progresso sd., Atti XXVII riunione 5(2) 313-322... 

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