View source for Luigi Galvani

{{Short description|Italian scientist (1737–1798)}}
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{{Infobox scientist
| image             = Luigi Galvani, oil-painting.jpg
| caption           = Portrait of Galvani at the [[Palazzo Poggi]]
| birth_date        = {{birth date|df=y|1737|9|9}}
| birth_place       = [[Bologna]], [[Papal States]]
| death_date        = {{death date and age|df=y|1798|12|4|1737|9|9}}
| death_place       = Bologna, [[Cisalpine Republic]]
| known_for         = [[Galvanism]]
| spouse            = [[Lucia Galeazzi Galvani]]
| fields            = [[Physics]]
| relatives         = [[Giovanni Aldini]] (nephew)
| work_institutions = [[University of Bologna]]
}}
'''Luigi Galvani''' ({{IPAc-en|ɡ|æ|l|ˈ|v|ɑː|n|i}} {{respell|gal|VAH|nee}}, {{IPAc-en|USalso|ɡ|ɑː|l|-}} {{respell|gahl|-}},<ref>{{Cite American Heritage Dictionary|Galvani|access-date=31 May 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/galvani|title=Galvani|work=[[Collins English Dictionary]]|publisher=[[HarperCollins]]|access-date=31 May 2019}}</ref><ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20190531144301/https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/us/Galvani,_Luigi "Galvani, Luigi"] (US) and {{Cite dictionary |url=http://www.lexico.com/definition/Galvani,+Luigi |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201026062649/https://www.lexico.com/definition/galvani%2C_luigi |url-status=dead |archive-date=2020-10-26 |title=Galvani, Luigi |dictionary=[[Lexico]] UK English Dictionary |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite Merriam-Webster|Galvani|access-date=31 May 2019}}</ref> {{IPA|it|luˈiːdʒi ɡalˈvaːni|lang}}; {{langx|la|Aloysius Galvanus}}; 9 September 1737 – 4 December 1798) was an Italian [[physician]], [[physicist]], [[biologist]] and [[philosopher]] who studied [[animal electricity]]. In 1780, using a frog, he discovered that the muscles of dead frogs' legs twitched when struck by an electrical spark.<ref name=Whittaker>{{citation|last=Whittaker|first= E. T.|author-link=E. T. Whittaker|title=[[A History of the Theories of Aether and Electricity|A History of the Theories of Aether and Electricity. Vol 1]]| publisher=Nelson, London |year=1951}}</ref>{{rp|67–71}} This was an early study of [[bioelectricity]], following experiments by [[John Walsh (scientist)|John Walsh]] and [[Hugh Williamson]].

== Early life and career ==
Luigi Galvani was born to [[goldsmith]] Domenico Galvani and Barbara Caterina Foschi, in [[Bologna]], then part of the [[Papal States]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Galvani |first=Luigi |url=http://archive.org/details/commentaryonthee002243mbp |title=Commentary On The Effect Of Electricity On Muscular Motion |last2=Pupilli |first2=Giulio C. |date= |publisher=Elizabeth Licht |others=Universal Digital Library |year=1953 |pages=ix-xx}}</ref> A portion of his childhood home still stands in the Giardino Salvatore Pincherle.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Vietto |first=Sonja |date=2022-11-24 |title=Bologna, nuova vita al giardino Pincherle |url=https://www.bologna24ore.it/notizie/cronaca/2022/11/24/bologna-nuova-vita-al-giardino-pincherle/ |access-date=2025-09-04 |website=Bologna24ore.it |language=it-IT}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2019-11-07 |title=La casa di Galvani diventa succursale di una banca |url=https://bibliotecasalaborsa.it/bolognaonline/objects/la_casa_di_luigi_galvani_diventa_succursale_di_una_banca |access-date=2025-09-04 |website=bibliotecasalaborsa.it |language=it}}</ref>

In 1759, Galvani graduated with a degree in medicine and philosophy and began to practice medicine at nearby hospitals.<ref name=":0" /> He published his first work, a paper on the anatomy and physiology of bones, in 1762, when he was 25 years old. Galvani presented the work at the [[Archiginnasio of Bologna|Archiginnasio di Bologna]], which allowed him to start lecturing at the [[Academy of Sciences of the Institute of Bologna|Academy of Sciences of the Institue of Bologna]] (now part of the [[University of Bologna]]) where he taught anatomy for most of his career.<ref name=":0" />

In 1766, Galvani was appointed curator of the anatomical museum by the senate of Bologna. This position "required him to give lectures and demonstrations of anatomical operations before surgeons, painters and sculptors."<ref name=":0" /> In 1782, he was appointed Professor of [[Obstetrics|Obstetric Arts]], which he remained for the next 16 years.

== Animal electricity ==
Galvani then began taking an interest in the field of "medical electricity". This field emerged in the middle of the 18th century, following electrical researches and the discovery of the effects of electricity on the human body by scientists including Bertrand Bajon and [[Ramón María Termeyer]] in the 1760s,<ref name="de Asúa 2008">{{cite journal |last=de Asúa |first=Miguel |title=The Experiments of Ramón M. Termeyer SJ on the Electric Eel in the River Plate Region (c. 1760) and other Early Accounts of Electrophorus electricus |journal=Journal of the History of the Neurosciences |volume=17 |issue=2 |date=9 April 2008 |doi=10.1080/09647040601070325 |pages=160–174|pmid=18421634 }}</ref> and by [[John Walsh (scientist)|John Walsh]]<ref name="Edwards 2021">{{cite web |last=Edwards |first=Paul |title=A Correction to the Record of Early Electrophysiology Research on the 250th Anniversary of a Historic Expedition to Île de Ré |url=https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-03423498/document |publisher=HAL open-access archive |access-date=6 May 2022 |date=10 November 2021 |id=hal-03423498 }}</ref><ref name="Alexander 1969">{{cite journal |last=Alexander |first=Mauro |title=The role of the voltaic pile in the Galvani-Volta controversy concerning animal vs. metallic electricity |journal=[[Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences]] |year=1969 |volume=XXIV |issue=2 |pages=140–150 |doi=10.1093/jhmas/xxiv.2.140 |pmid=4895861 }}</ref> and [[Hugh Williamson]] in the 1770s.<ref name="VanderVeer 2011">{{cite journal |last=VanderVeer |first=Joseph B. |title=Hugh Williamson: Physician, Patriot, and Founding Father |journal=Journal of the American Medical Association |volume=306 |issue=1 |date=6 July 2011 |doi=10.1001/jama.2011.933 }}</ref><ref name="Bresadola 367–380">{{cite journal |last=Bresadola |first=Marco |title=Medicine and science in the life of Luigi Galvani |journal=Brain Research Bulletin |date=15 July 1998 |volume=46 |issue=5 |pages=367–380 |doi=10.1016/s0361-9230(98)00023-9 |pmid=9739000 |s2cid=13035403}}</ref> The publication in 1791 of Galvani’s main work (''De Viribus Electricitatis in Motu Musculari Commentarius''), summarizing and discussing more than 10 years of research on the effect of electricity on animal preparations, had an enormous impact on the [[scientific community]] and sparked heated controversy in Europe.{{sfn|Piccolino|1998|p=381}}<gallery mode="nolines" widths="220" heights="160">
File:Luigi Galvani Experiment.jpeg|Experiment ''De viribus electricitatis in motu musculari.''
File:Galvani frog legs experiment setup.png|Late 1780s diagram of Galvani's experiment on frog legs.
File:Galvani-frogs-legs-electricity.jpg|Electrodes touch a frog, and the legs twitch into the upward position.<ref>David Ames Wells, ''The science of common things: a familiar explanation of the first'', 323 pages ([[iarchive:sciencecommonth01wellgoog/page/n298|<!-- quote=Galvani frog leg. --> page 290]])</ref> (see also: [[Frog galvanoscope]])
</gallery>

==Galvani vs. Volta==
{{further|Galvanism}}

[[Alessandro Volta]], a professor of experimental physics in the [[University of Pavia]], was among the first scientists who repeated and checked Galvani’s experiments. At first, he embraced animal electricity. However, he started to doubt that the conductions were caused by specific electricity intrinsic to the animal's legs or other body parts. Volta believed that the contractions depended on the metal cable Galvani used to connect the nerves and muscles in his experiments.<ref name="Bresadola 367–380"/>

Every cell has a [[Membrane potential|cell potential]]; biological electricity has the same chemical underpinnings as the current between [[electrochemical cell]]s, and thus can be duplicated outside the body. Volta's intuition was correct. Volta, essentially, objected to Galvani’s conclusions about "animal electric fluid", but the two scientists disagreed respectfully and Volta coined the term "Galvanism" for a direct current of electricity produced by chemical action.<ref>[https://www.ieeeghn.org/wiki/index.php/Luigi_Galvani Luigi Galvani] – IEEE Global History Network.</ref>

Since Galvani was reluctant to intervene in the controversy with Volta, he trusted his nephew, [[Giovanni Aldini]], to act as the main defender of the theory of animal electricity.<ref name="Bresadola 367–380"/>

==Personal life==
[[File:Antonio Muzzi, Luigi Galvani compie esperimenti con la macchina elettrostatica alla presenza dei familiari, 1862.png|thumb|293x293px|1862 painting of Luigi Galvani and Lucia Galeazzi Galvani.]]
Galvani married scientist [[Lucia Galeazzi Galvani|Lucia Galeazzi]], daughter of his mentor [[Domenico Maria Gusmano Galeazzi|Domenico Gusmano Galeazzi]], in 1762.<ref name=":0" /> After her death in 1790, Galvani moved in with his brother, who was living in their childhood home in Bologna.

Galvani was described by contemporaries as an "honest, mild, modest man, polite, charitable to the unfortunate and always a noble and generous friend."<ref name=":0" /> He was noted for his religious devotion and saw his medical work as being a spiritual mission. French dermatologist [[Jean-Louis-Marc Alibert]] said of Galvani that he never ended his lessons “without exhorting his hearers and leading them back to the idea of that eternal Providence, which develops, conserves, and circulates life among so many diverse beings.”<ref>{{cite web |title=CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Luigi Galvani |url=https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/06371c.htm |access-date=1 September 2014}}</ref>

==Death and legacy==
Galvani actively investigated animal electricity until the end of his life. In April 1798, the [[Cisalpine Republic]], a French client state founded after the French occupation of Northern Italy, required every university professor to swear loyalty to the new authority. Galvani disagreed with the oath and refused to take it; as a result, he was stripped of his offices and sent into poverty. Aldini led a movement to restore him to his university position — it was successful, but his restoration was only announced shortly before his death. Galvani died in his brother’s house on 4 December 1798.<ref name="Bresadola 367–380" />[[File:Bologna Statue of Galvani.jpg|thumb|235x235px|Luigi Galvani's [[monument]] in Piazza Luigi Galvani (Luigi Galvani Square), in [[Bologna]].|left]]Galvani's report of his investigations were mentioned specifically by [[Mary Shelley]] as part of the summer reading list leading up to an [[ad hoc]] [[ghost story]] contest on a rainy day in Switzerland — and the resultant novel'' [[Frankenstein]]'' — and its reanimated construct.  In ''Frankenstein'', Victor studies the principles of galvanism but it is not mentioned in reference to the creation of the Monster.
Galvani's name also survives in everyday language as the verb 'galvanize' as well as in more specialized terms: [[Galvani potential]], [[galvanic anode]], [[galvanic bath]], [[galvanic cell]], [[galvanic corrosion]], [[galvanic corrosion|galvanic couple]], [[Direct current|galvanic current]], [[galvanic isolation]], [[galvanic series]], [[galvanic skin response]], [[galvanism]], [[galvanization]], [[hot-dip galvanization]], [[galvanometer]], Galvalume, and psycho-galvanic reflex.

==Works==
* [https://archive.org/details/AloysiiGalvaniD00Galv ''De viribus electricitatis in motu musculari commentarius''] {{In lang|la}}, 1791. The Institute of Sciences, Bologna.
* {{Cite book|title=De viribus electricitatis in motu musculari|volume=|publisher=Società tipografica|location=Modena|year=1792|language=la|url=https://gutenberg.beic.it/webclient/DeliveryManager?pid=12442836}}
* {{Cite book|title=Memorie sulla elettricità animale|volume=|publisher=Clemente Maria Sassi|location=Bologna|year=1797|language=it|url=https://gutenberg.beic.it/webclient/DeliveryManager?pid=12147619}}
* {{Cite book|title=[Opere]|volume=|publisher=Emidio Dall'Olmo|location=Bologna|year=1841|language=it|url=https://gutenberg.beic.it/webclient/DeliveryManager?pid=12035686}}

==See also==
*[[History of electrochemistry]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Sources==
* {{cite book |editor1-last=Heilbron |editor1-first=John L. |editor-link=John L. Heilbron|title=The Oxford Companion to the History of Modern Science |date=2003 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0199743766 }}
* {{cite journal|first=Marco|last=Piccolino|title=Animal electricity and the birth of electrophysiology: The legacy of Luigi Galvani|journal=[[Brain Research Bulletin]]|volume=46|issue=5|year=1998|doi=10.1016/s0361-9230(98)00026-4|pages=381–407|pmid=9739001}}

==External links==
{{commons category|Luigi Galvani}}
{{CE1913 poster|Luigi Galvani}}
* {{wiktionary-inline|galvanize}}
* {{Cite EB1911|wstitle=Galvani, Luigi}}
* {{cite encyclopedia
 |title= Galvani, Luigi
 |encyclopedia= [[Dictionary of Scientific Biography]]
 |volume= 5
 |year= 1972
 |last= Brown
 |first= Theodore M.
 |author-link= Theodore M. Brown
 |publisher= [[Charles Scribner's Sons]]
 |location= New York
 |url= https://www.encyclopedia.com/people/medicine/medicine-biographies/luigi-galvani
 |access-date= 1 July 2025
 |pages= 267-9
 |editor= [[Charles Coulston Gillispie]]
}}
* {{DBI|title=GALVANI, Luigi|first=Calogero|last=Farinella|volume=51|url=https://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/luigi-galvani_(Dizionario-Biografico)}}
* {{cite encyclopedia
|last         = Bresadola
|first        = Marco
|date         = 2013
|title        = Galvani, Luigi
|url          = https://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/luigi-galvani_(Il-Contributo-italiano-alla-storia-del-Pensiero:-Scienze)
|encyclopedia = Il Contributo italiano alla storia del Pensiero: Scienze
|location     = Rome
|publisher    = [[Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana]]
|access-date  = 1 July 2025
}}
* {{cite book
 |title= Shocking Frogs: Galvani, Volta, and the Electric Origins of Neuroscience
 |year= 2013
 |last1= Piccolino
 |first1= Marco 
 |last2= Bresadola
 |first2= Marco 
 |publisher= [[Oxford University Press]]
 |location= London
 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=-ftQEAAAQBAJ
 |access-date= 16 July 2025
 |isbn= 978-0199782215
}}

{{Age of Enlightenment}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Galvani, Luigi}}
[[Category:1737 births]]
[[Category:1798 deaths]]
[[Category:Physicians from Bologna]]
[[Category:University of Bologna alumni]]
[[Category:Academic staff of the University of Bologna]]
[[Category:18th-century Italian physicians]]
[[Category:18th-century writers in Latin]]
[[Category:18th-century Italian male writers]]
[[Category:History of neuroscience]]
[[Category:Battery inventors]]
[[Category:People from the Papal States]]
[[Category:Italian Roman Catholics]]
[[Category:Latin-language Italian writers]]