Luigi Galvani

Luigi Galvani (1737-1798) was appointed Reader in Anatomy at the University in 1762. His skill as a surgeon soon won him the Chair of Obstetrics at the Institute of Sciences, of which he was to become president in 1772. His investigations into the structure of animal organs established him as one of the founders of modern electrotechnology at the end of the eighteenth century, alongside his contemporaries Henry Cavendish, Benjamin Franklin and Alessandro Volta. He was the first to discover the physiological action of electricity and in 1791 his De viribus electricitatis in motu muscolari commentarius, reporting his research over a period of 10 years, was to impress the scientific community all over the world. His subsequent experiments in making the exposed muscles and nerves of a frog contract when connected to a bimetallic conductor demonstrated the existence of bioelectric forces in animal tissue. This gave rise to a disagreement between Galvani and Volta over the explanation of the phenomenon, about which each was partly right. His work was nevertheless instrumental in leading Volta to the invention of the first electric battery. Galvani held his Chair for 33 years but was dismissed in 1797 following the occupation of the country by the Napoleonic army. Being a man of integrity, he refused to take the oath of allegiance required of him by the invader. He died the following year.

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