Giovanni Antonio Scopoli (1723–1788) studied in Vienna and in Innsbruck. In 1753, he passed the state exam needed for an independent practice of the medical profession under Gerard van Swieten in Vienna. He was sent to Idrija, which until then did not have a permanent physician. Between 1754 and 1769, he worked there as a mine physician, and established schooling for metallurgical and chemical education. Already in his youth he was interested in botany, and in the early 1860s he began to explore the Julian Alps. In 1760, he published the book Flora Carniolica, the first scientific work on nature in Slovenia, in which he described around 1,100 plant species from the north-western part of Slovenia. He also corresponded with Carl von Linné about his discoveries. He was a member of many prominent European scientific institutions. He published twenty-one works in the fields of botany, zoology (mainly entomology), mineralogy with crystallography, metallurgy and chemistry, as well as other natural and applied sciences.

The collection presents individual copies of Scopoli's works as well as biographical and other studies on his life and work.