"International in support and clientele" The Zoological Station of Naples as a projection surface, a place of longing and Instrument for international biology between 1914 and 1955

Founded in 1872, the Zoological Station of Naples (ZSN) has shaped the history of biology and served as a model for many similar institutions that followed in its footsteps. A private research infrastructure, it drew symbolic and ultimately economic capital from its international character. The backbone of this internationality was the "table system" established by its German founder, Anton Dohrn. The First World War plunged this managerial and political model into a crisis. After a temporary nationalization by the Italians between 1915 and 1920, the son of the founder Reinhard Dohrn was reinstated in 1924 on the basis of a compromise, which rendered the institute a public/ private hybrid and, progressively, also a national/international one.This article examines the origins and evolution of this rapid change of identity from the mid1920s to the early 1950s. It argues that although the station was able to use its accumulated symbolic capital to catalyse an international response to the recurrent financial and political crises of the period, it critically failed to adapt to the changing landscape of international scientific relations. In particular, the continuation of the table system, once an asset of the station, became both a pillar and a problem for the station's independence.