1857, 30 April - 1859, 30 August: research cruise around the world by the SMS Frigate Novara (imperial frigate), promoted by Archduke Ferdinand Maximilian, which left and arrived in Trieste with 26,000 zoological samples, herbaria, seeds, fruits preserved in alcohol, spices, wood, 1,000 geological samples.
With the material collected in two years and three months of navigation. an exhibition is set up in Trieste and then in Vienna.
1874: the Società Adriatica di Scienze Naturali (Adriatic Society of Natural Sciences) was founded in Trieste by a group of private individuals.
1875: on the initiative of Prof. Carl Claus and Prof. Franz Eilhard Schultze, the University of Vienna buys Villa Gialuzzi in the S. Andrea area of Trieste, today Viale Romolo Gessi 2, renovates it and founds the Imperial Regia Stazione Didattica e di Osservazione Zoologica, a branch of the University of Vienna.
An indication of the European scientific climate of the period is the fact that the "Zoological Station of Napoli" was inaugurated by Anton Dohrn on 14 April 1875.
1876: The young Sigmund Freud, with a ministerial grant, carries out research on the reproductive system of the eel at the Zoological Station of Sant'Andrea.
Freud examines around 400 eels and writes his first publication: Beobachtungen über Gestaltung und feineren Bau der als Hoden beschriebenen Lappenorgane des Aals (Observations on the conformation and intimate constitution of the globular organ of the eel).
1915: Due to the war the station is closed and the library is moved partly to Vienna and partly to the Zoological Station in Rovinj.
1945: After World War II, the Rovinj library is moved to the CNR Institute of Marine Biology in Venice.
1962: The Faculty of Natural Sciences is established at the University of Trieste; Professor Elvezio Ghirardelli gives new impetus to biological research at sea.
1968: final transfer of the so-called 'Rovinj collection' (also containing some finds from the former Zoological Station of Trieste) to the Giuseppe Olivi Museum of Adriatic Zoology, a section of the University of Padua.
1972, 31 July: the Laboratory of Marine Biology is founded by a Consortium formed by the University of Trieste, the Province and the Municipality of Trieste; the President of the Consortium is the Mayor of Trieste and, by proxy, Prof. Antonio Brambati. Scientific management is entrusted to a Committee of experts in the field, which appoints Prof. Serena Fonda Umani, Professor of Marine Biology at the University of Trieste, as Director.
Subsequently, the Board of Directors of the LBM included the participation of the Friuli Venezia Giulia Region and the University of Udine.
The laboratories are housed in the "Castelletto" of the Filtri di Aurisina; this is a building of industrial archaeology, built between 1855 and 1857 to supply water for the new railway (Südbahn: Wien-Triest), the port and the city of Trieste.
1973: a group of enthusiasts, including Captain Mario Bussani, persuade the Port Authority of Trieste to recognise waters in front of Miramar Castle as a marine park.
1986, 12 November: by decree of the Ministry of the Environment, the Miramare Marine Reserve is established. Since 26 January 2013, the reserve has been included in the list of SCIs (Sites of Community Interest) and is called the Marine Protected Area of Miramare.
2005, 30 September: the Board of Directors of the Consortium for the management of the Marine Biology Laboratory decides to cease its activities in view of the transfer to the OGS.