Conte Marcos Charbouris was born in Argostoli, Kefalonia, on the 21st or 31st of December 1730. His family, of Cretan origin, was inscribed in the Golden Book “Libro d’Oro” of the nobles of Kefalonia between the years 1593 & 1604. The Venetian Republic awarded the title of Count to Marco on 27 November 1760. In 1740 he settled in Venice where he studied at the Flangino School (1740-1741), whose students after graduation were able to continue their studies at the University of Padua. He then enrolled at the Cottunio School or Hellenomousieio (1741-1748) in Padua, which was a branch of the University there. Thus, during the period 1749-1757, Charbouris continued his studies at the University of Padua in Philosophy and Medicine, where he graduated as Doctor of Medicine on 14 July 1757. He then went on to specialise in Natural Sciences, particularly Chemistry, at the University of Bologna, under the famous Professor Jacopo Bartolomeo Beccari. Beccari saw the natural skill of Charbouris after only one year and made him a proseptor (sub-teacher) of the School of Chemistry.

In 1759, when the Venetian Senate decided to create the first chair of chemistry, which was just beginning as a science, at the University of Padua, he was appointed Professor in this temporary chair. Before the Senate had even approved the decree appointing him (24 January 1760), he was assigned to the mining detachments (Senate decree of 24 May 1760), giving the first and last lesson at the University on 23 June 1760. From December 1760 to 1767, with a government grant awarded to him to study new techniques, he toured mines, metallurgical shops, factories, chemistry and pharmaceutical laboratories in Sardinia, Austria, Hungary, Germany, Bohemia and Sweden. In December 1867 he returned to Padua and began his regular lectures at the University for the academic year 1767-1768. From then on he would teach continuously until the end of his life, with the exception of the periods of the Austrian occupation (1798-1801 & 1802-1805) when he remained in exile in his country house.

He was rector and auditor of the University of Padua in 1774.

Charbouris was a famous inventor of various methods and applications in relation to metals and their use in weapon systems. One of his greatest successes is considered to be the creation in 1772 of a chemistry laboratory invented for his research and experiments, which was to serve as a model for the chemistry laboratories of Italian universities. In the same year he was awarded a gold medal by the Venetian Senate for his invention of combustible paper which was used in the improvement of weapons and guns.

In 1779 he became a member of the Academy of Sciences, Letters and Arts of Padua, where he announced some of his most important scientific works, and during the periods 1784-1785 & 1792-1793 he served as its President. He was also made a Fellow of the Academies of Stockholm and Uppsala. He also distinguished himself as a philosopher, alchemist, occultist, mesmerist and naturalist of the time.

For his tectonic activity we know that in 1765, while he was in Sweden, due to his aforementioned research mission, he met in Stockholm with Emanuel Swedenborg, a specialist in metallurgy, who initiated him. Later, in Padua, he would become a member of the Amore del Prossimo (Love of the Neighbour) Lodge, of which he would also become Venerable.

He was officially installed Consul of the Dovecote (La Stricte Observance Templiere) by Baron Eberhard von Wächter on 17 January 1778.

Charbouris, as President of the Scottish Grand Lodge of Verona, giving the official permission for the foundation and establishment of La Beneficenza East Corfu Lodge, on 13 June 1782, is considered the initiator of Freemasonry in the wider Greek area.

He died in Padua after a long illness on 4 December 1808 at the age of 78.