Fabbroni (1752-1822), scientist, statesman, and scholar, became assistant to Felice Fontana in 1768 at the Museum of Physics and Natural Sciences in Florence. Later he lived in Paris and London where he frequented the enlightened and radical circles of the two capitals, meeting Benjamin Franklin and corresponding with Thomas Jefferson. Returning to Florence in 1782, he wrote widely on chemistry, physics, agriculture, botany, archaeology, and philology.