Introduction

This introduction to the 1998-99 Activity Report of the Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn will begin by paying homage to my predecessor, Professor Gaetano Salvatore. During the ten years of his Presidency (1987-1997), the Stazione started a new life. As a token of gratitude, the Stazione dedicated to his memory a meeting celebrating its 125^th Anniversary and established the "Gaetano Salvatore Lectures". These will begin in May 2000, with Professor Christian de Duve, Nobel Laureate in Medicine, as the first lecturer. We are also very grateful to Mrs. Marisa Salvatore for having founded a "Gaetano Salvatore Fellowship" for a young researcher.

I wish to remember here Lucia Mazzella, the head of the Benthos Laboratory, who succumbed to an inexorable disease in June 1999. Her loss was deeply felt not only by all the people who work at the Stazione, but also by a large number of colleagues around the world. A foundation, created by Randy Alberte to honor her, will provide short-term fellowships for foreigners to work in Ischia or for people from Ischia to work abroad.

My first two years as President have been devoted, on the one hand, to consolidating the reforms of Professor Salvatore and, on the other, to taking and supporting new initiatives. I will mention here some of these.

In addition to the "Gaetano Salvatore Lectures", the Stazione is also starting a series of "Anton Dohrn Workshops". The first two workshops, "Neutralism and selectionism: the end of a debate" and "Microbial variation and evolution: historical aspects and perspectives", organized respectively by myself and by Bernardino Fantini, will take place in May 2000 in our Ischia Laboratory. Moreover, the Stazione will organize, in November 2000, together with the International Union of Biological Sciences (IUBS), a Congress entitled "Biological Sciences: Challenges for the 21^st century". While the Workshops are focused on current debates, the Congress will have a much broader scope and consider the new research perspectives in Biology.

A very important initiative started in the Fall of 1999, thanks to Roberto Di Lauro, is a Ph.D. Programme developed in collaboration with the Open University of London. In the first year, the number of students is limited to five, but it will increase to about 20 in the next four years. This Ph.D. programme will largely replace the "Dottorati di Ricerca", which were under the aegis of several Italian Universities.

As far as research at the Stazione is concerned two new Laboratories, Molecular Evolution and Plant Molecular Biology, were opened in 1998 and 1999 respectively, and are now fully active. More generally, research work is progressing in a most satisfactory way at the Stazione, as witnessed by the publications, by the invitations to meetings and by the many interactions with other research groups working in Italy and abroad.

Two important changes have taken place in the Scientific Advisory Board of the Stazione, in that the number of members has been reduced and groups of invited experts will review biannually the activity in the four major areas of research. Next May, two expert groups will visit two of our Laboratories, Neurobiology and Ecology, and report to the Scientific Advisory Board.

Along a different line, the Stazione has launched several "Concorsi". This is a very important step that will increase the number of personnel working at the Stazione. Indeed, the Stazione is encouraged to expand by the strong support it is receiving from the Ministry of Research. Hopefully, the restructuring of the East Wing of the Stazione will begin soon and provide much needed laboratory space. Many improvements have already been carried out in several laboratories of the Stazione. In addition, the outside walls were repainted at the same time as the Villa Comunale was renovated, thanks to the initiative of the City of Naples.

The various points mentioned above show that the Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn is not only the "mythical place for biologists" (in the words of François Jacob), where so many fundamental discoveries were made, but also a most active research center, participating in and open to national and international collaborations.

As for the future of the Stazione, we intend first of all to maintain the elements that make it a unique research Institution, including its multidisciplinarity and international character, its ties to similar institutions abroad, its aquarium (the oldest in the world), its archives, its library, its journals (History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences, edited by Bernardino Fantini, and Marine Ecology, edited by Joerg Ott and Lucia Mazzella), and its cultural activities. All these features were originally conceived by Anton Dohrn and provide the best evidence for the depth and correctness of his vision.

More specifically, it is our goal to contribute as much as we can to the development of biological research in Southern Italy. The potential of the Stazione Zoologica, with a staff of over 200 and important associations with other laboratories in Naples and elsewhere in the South of Italy, should make this possible. At the invitation of the Ministry of Research, the Stazione will set up a laboratory within the BIOGEM structure at Ariano Irpino. This will be a new outstation mainly devoted to plant and animal genomics.

I would like to conclude on a personal note and say how happy I am, after so many years abroad, to be back again in my country, in my beloved city of Naples and in this special place, the Stazione Zoologica. I also wish to express all my gratitude to the Director General, Lucio Cariello, the Heads of Laboratories and Services, and all the personnel of the Stazione for their warm and friendly collaboration.

President
Prof. Giorgio Bernardi