Il conte Giovanni Capodistria (1776-1831) è stato un uomo politico greco-russo, ministro degli esteri dell'impero zarista e primo capo di stato della Grecia indipendente. Nei libri di storia greci è il Κόμης Ιωάννης Καποδίστριας while the Russian is граф Иоанн Антонович Каподистрия . He was born in Corfu, the main center of the Ionian Islands (then part of the Republic of Venice), studied at Padua, and had a long series of diplomatic appointments which culminated in 1809 when he was called to St. Petersburg at the Department of Foreign Affairs Tsarist Empire, where he served as a diplomatic agent, two years later was part of the Russian embassy in Vienna and in 1812 he was sent to work at the headquarters of the Russian army of the Danube. The following year, as head Cabinet, Koper followed the Tsar Alexander I of Russia in the war against Napoleon, earning the trust of the Russian emperor to get to the point, from that moment on, the most important negotiations of state. In the Congress of Vienna, who participated as a Russian plenipotentiary, he managed to get through his influence the restoration of the Republic under the exclusive protection dell'Eptaneso English and signed shortly after the Second Treaty of Paris of 20 November 1815. Count Koper always had at heart the cause of emancipation from the yoke Hellenic turkish and 18 April 1828 the Greek National Assembly met in Nauplius elected him first president. The need to revive its ancient Greece arretratezza fece tuttavia prendere a Capodistria misure di ammodernamento tanto drastiche quanto impopolari che gli alienarono le simpatie di molti gruppi politici e clan familiari. Scoppiarono quindi rivolte nell'isola di Idra e nella regione del Mani, e quando Capodistria fece arrestare il principe maniota Petros Mavromichalis venne assassinato dal fratello e dal figlio di quest'ultimo a Nauplio, nel Peloponneso, mentre si dirigeva verso la chiesa di San Spiridione, il 9 ottobre 1831.
Dal 1911 l'Università di Atene reca il nome Εθνικό και Καποδιστριακό πανεπιστήμιο Αθηνών, e oggi il suo volto è raffigurato sulla moneta da 20 centesimi di euro.