Aldo Mieli

Aldo Mieli (4 December 1879 – 16 February 1950) was an influential historian of science, and a pioneer of gay rights.

Early life and education Born in 1879 in Livorno, Italy to a wealthy Jewish family, Mieli was raised in Chianciano, a small spa town in Tuscany, to which his family moved in 1880. Police records, however, showed that Mieli's homosexuality, referred to as 'manifest immorality' was well known in the local area, which would have severely inhibited his political career.

In 1919, he founded the journal Archivio di storia della scienza, renamed Archeion in 1927 (later renamed Archives internationales d'histoire des sciences and still published), which he continued to edit until 1943. Many organisations, including UNESCO, provided funding for the journal, which he also subsidised from his own finances.

That same year, Mieli was invited to create and direct a Unit for the History of Science at the Centre international de synthèse, which had been created in 1925 by Henri Berr. The Unit officially opened on 22 January 1930. He worked there, collaborating with Helene Metzger until 1939, when he moved to Argentina. He was very ill when he arrived in Argentina, and spent several months in hospital. Hirschfield and Mieli had both been members of the organizing committee of the first Congress of Sexology, in Berlin, held earlier that year in 1921.

Selected publications Mieli published extensively in a wide range of journals, and wrote several books. Selected publications include:

Aldo Mieli, G. Bargellini, Influenza che esercita un sale in varie concentrazioni sulla velocità di decolorazione di soluzioni acquose di sostanze organiche sotto l'influenza della luce, Rome, 1906 Aldo Mieli, La scienza greca: I prearistotelici. I (la scuola ionica. La scuola pythagorica. La scuola eleata, herakeitos), Libreria della Voce, Florence, 1915. Aldo Mieli, Lastoria della scienza in Italia, Florence, 1916, Rome, 1926, Aldo Mieli, Per una cattedra di storia della scienza Florence, 1916 Aldo Mieli, Il libro dell'amore Florence, 1916. Described by Maria Luisa Righini Bonelli as the work that he "considered his spiritual testament". Aldo Mieli, Lavoisier, A. F. Formiggini, Genoa 1916, second edition Rome 1926. Aldo Mieli, Lavori e scritti di Aldo Mieli (1906–1916), Libreria della Voce, Florence, 1917. Aldo Mieli, Manuale di storia della scienza: Antichità storia, antologia, bibliografia, Rome, 1925, published in French as Histoire des sciences. Antiquité, Paris, 1935 Aldo Mieli, La storia della scienza in Italia: Prolusione ad un corso di storia della scienza, Casa Edit. Tip. Leonardo da Vinci, Rome 1926. Aldo Mieli, Patologia sessuale, in: "Rassegna di studi sessuali", I 1921, pp. 81–94. Erotes: (Gli amori): Lucio o l'asino (traduzione di Luigi Settembrini, prefazione e note di A. Mieli Casa Edit. Tip. Leonardo da Vinci, Rome, 1925. Aldo Mieli, L'amore omosessuale, Tinto, Rome s.d. (ca. 1925). Aldo Mieli, Per la lotta contro la delinquenza collegata a manifestazioni sessuali, in: "Rassegna di studi sessuali", VI 1926, pp. 256–261. Aldo Mieli, Alessandro Volta, Formiggini, Roma 1927. Aldo Mieli, Roberto Assagioli, Nicola Pende, Tre lezioni di sessuologia, Tinto, Rome 1931. Aldo Mieli, La science arabe et son role dans l'evolution scientifique mondiale, par Aldo Mieli. Avec quelques additions de Henri-Paul-Joseph Renaud, Max Meyerhof, Julius Ruska, E. J. Brill, Leiden, 1938. Aldo Mieli, El desarollo histórico de la historia de la ciencia y la función actual de los iustitutos de historia de la ciencia, Santa Fé, 1939. Aldo Mieli, Sumario de un curso de historia de la ciencia en ciento veinte números, Santa Fé, 1943. Aldo Mieli, Digressions autobiographiques, sous forme de préface à un panorama général d'Histoire des sciences, in: "Archives internationales d'histoire des sciences", XXVII 1948, pp. 494–505.

The Panorama general de historia de la ciencia series Aldo Mieli, Panorama general de historia de la ciencia – 1: El mundo antiguo: Griegos y Romanos, Espasa Calpe Argentina, Buenos Aires, 1945. Aldo Mieli, Panorama general de historia de la ciencia – 2: La época medieval, mundo islámico y occidente cristiano, Espasa-Calpe Argentina, Buenos Aires, 1947. Aldo Mieli, Panorama general de historia de la ciencia – 3: La eclosión del Renacimiento, Espasa Calpe Argentina, Buenos Aires, 1951. Aldo Mieli, Panorama general de historia de la ciencia – 4: Lionardo da Vinci: sabio, Espasa-Calpe, Madrid, 1951. Aldo Mieli, Panorama general de historia de la ciencia – 5: La ciencia del Renacimiento: matemática y ciencias naturales, Espasa-Calpe Argentina, Buenos Aires, 1952.