The Museum of Geology and Palaeontology houses some fossils from Antonio Vallisneri’s collections. Prof. Antonio Vallisneri (1661-1730) taught Practical Medicine at the University of Padua from 1700 to 1730, and like most researches of his time he was interested in Natural History. During the years he accumulated his personal collection for teaching, consisting of archaeological and natural findings, and rare and ancient objects. Within the field of the Earth sciences he refuted the Universal Flood theory and recognized the proper nature of the fossils. In his book Dei corpi marini che sui monti si trovano, published in 1728, he showed that the fossils are remains of animals or plants living in the past, and that they had no relationship with the Universal Flood. He made many other important discoveries in the field of geology, for example on the water cycle, on the thermal waters and regarding some mines in the Apennine.