Galvani luigi biography of barack

A few years into research, Galvani discovered his interest in medical electricity and began researching the effects of electricity on the human body. During laboratory experiments, Galvani and his assistant were skinning a frog while the assistant touched a static nerve with a metal scalpel that picked up a charge. This accidental experiment was a great influence to the field of medicine and anatomy.

It was now understood that muscle movement was based on electrical energy instead of air or fluids, disproving the balloonist theories. Back then, Galvani named this phenomenon describing the force that activates muscle movements as animal electricity. Today, Galvani is credited with the discovery of bioelectricity. Galvani did not yet recognize these connections, but he laid the foundation for the development of electrochemical cells.

He was convinced — probably also due to the famous lightning conductor experiments conducted a few decades earlier by Benjamin Franklin — that lightning storms are in principle also such sparks, only much larger. Volta believed that the contractions depended on the metal cable Galvani used to connect the nerves and muscles in his experiments.

Ten years later Galvani died. He was 61 years old and in poverty. His death occurred on December 4, at his brother's house, in the doctor's hometown. Galvani's first interest was really in religion. The Italian was part of a religious institution during his adolescence, although he never had the support of his parents to become a priest. A few classes in grammar and letters created an interest in philosophy.

Although Galvani's parents did not have much money, they managed to send their son to college. Galvani enrolled but after some first philosophy classes he decided to change his field of study to dedicate himself to medicine. Galvani began to work as a doctor and surgeon in the hospitals of the city of Bologna, although he also worked privately.

Galvani had several academic roles thanks to the importance of his father-in-law within the university community.

Galvani luigi biography of barack

Galvani was in charge of the preservation of the anatomical figures. He also became a professor of anatomy at the Institute of Sciences. He became president of the College of Medicine in Bologna and was in charge of giving licenses so that the doctors of the time could work. He was also responsible for controlling the production and marketing of medicines.

It is at this stage that his interest in the subject of muscular movement in human beings begins. At the Institute of Sciences, he stopped teaching anatomy classes to teach obstetrics. His classes were characterized by being practical and were not focused only on medical students, he also focused on the women who helped with childbirth during this time.

Just over a year before his death, inthe Cisalpine Republic was founded. All public employees who were in the territory of this Republic had to pledge allegiance to this State. Galvani disagreed with this action because it contradicted his beliefs. The punishment by the authorities was to remove the scientist from all his academic positions in the universities.

This decision meant that the doctor could no longer have a salary and a home, nor would he have a pension at the end of his career. That's when Galvani moved to the house that belonged to his parents, where his half-brother Francesco continued to live. The authorities of the Republic came to rectify their decision and in January the doctor would resume his positions, but Galvani died before the decision became effective.

Although Galvani worked in different areas such as obstetrics, anatomy and surgery, his most important experiments had to do with the link he discovered between electricity and the network of nerves and muscles present in the body of a frog. The Italian managed, thanks to his experiments, to refute some of the ideas that Descartes had raised almost years earlier.

Dissecting a frog at a table where he had been conducting experiments with static electricity, Galvani touched an exposed sciatic nerve of the frog with his metal scalpel, which had picked up a charge. At that moment, he saw the dead frog's leg kick as if in life. The observation made Galvani the first investigator to appreciate the relationship between electricity and animation--or life.

He is typically credited with the discovery of biological electricity. Galvani vs. Volta [ edit ]. Further information: Galvanism. Death [ edit ]. Legacy [ edit ]. Works [ edit ]. See also [ edit ]. References [ edit ]. Retrieved 31 May Collins English Dictionary. Lexico UK English Dictionary. Oxford University Press. Archived from the original on Journal of the History of the Neurosciences.

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