ZOIS, Žiga (Sigismundus)

As a son of a merchant who moved from Italy to Ljubljana and married a daughter of the renowned Slovenian industrial family, Z. inherited his father's noble title and mother’s large estates, mines and ironworks.
He attended Italian schools but he mainly acquired knowledge by himself from books, during his journeys and through acquaintances with celebrities, among whom was the famous English chemist Humphry Davy. Thus he attained extensive and contemporary knowledge in mathematics, physics, chemistry, metallurgy, geology, the mining industry, biology and agriculture.
His plants in the territory of Slovenia employed up to 1,000 people. He was the wealthiest Carniolan, who not only provided for himself and his brother Karl but also sponsored and supported the work of a great many scientists and artists, including the poet Valentin Vodnik; the first Slovenian playwright and historian, Anton Tomaž Linhart; a great Slovene linguist Jernej Kopitar, and others. He also supported modern institutions, in particular the Carniolan Agricultural Society, and occasionally organised actions, such as study trips of for the doctor and natural scientist, Baltazar Hacquet; the first expedition to Triglav, the highest summit in Slovenia (1778), and the first attempted balloon flight across Slovenian territory (1784).
He promoted the international flow of information and held a large library. As a natural scientist, he was renowned for his mineral collection (now held by the Slovenian Museum of National History in Ljubljana), he was the first to describe the mineral ‘zoisite’ which was named after him, and as a zoologist he was the first who systematically studied the proteus.
Due to his ironworks he was involved in the field of technology both in theory and practise which became very important after 1780 when the iron industry was faced with a huge crisis. Z. saved his companies from bankruptcy by introducing new technologies and a more modern reorganisation of working practises.
He was also an innovator and inventor. Among other things, he invented a device for air injection in blast furnaces and played a significant role in the implementation of new technologies in bell-making, engraving, gun making, glassmaking and ceramics. He invested effort in the improvement of the navigability of Slovenian rivers and the drainage of the Ljubljana Marshes. When his health forced him to use a wheelchair, he constructed one for himself. As an entrepreneur of the Enlightenment era and a mentor and patron of arts, he had a significant influence on the economic, cultural and social development of the Slovenian territory in late 18th and early 19th century.