The Oceanographic Achievements of Vito Volterra in Italy and Abroad

The aim of this paper is to introduce Vito Volterra's activity as a policy maker in the field of oceanography. In 1908, he was the promoter of the Thalassographic Committee (then in 1910 Royal Italian Thalassographic Committee), a national endeavor for marine research vis-à-vis the industrial world of fisheries, which soon internationalized. Abroad it was affiliated with the International Commission for the Scientific Exploration of the Mediterranean Sea, led by Albert I, Prince of Monaco (1919-1922) and then by Vito Volterra himself (1923-1928).