Ranieri Gerbi (1813-1814)
A physicist and a professor at the Imperial Academy of Pisa, Gerbi was the first Director of the Scuola Normale Superiore.
Established by Napoleonic decree on October 18, 1810, the Scuola Normale was founded in Pisa as a branch of the Parisian École Normale Supérieure: from the very beginning, access was granted to students on the basis of merit and not wealth.
The original site was the Convent of San Silvestro, in the square of the same name in Pisa: 25 places were put up for competition for the Faculties of Letters and Sciences.
Students of the Scuole Normali were to become future teachers of the Italian territories of the empire: their education was free.
After the Restoration, Ferdinando III, Grand Duke of Tuscany, decided to close the Scuola Normale, despite Ranieri Gerbi's attempts to avoid its suppression.