Luigi Galvani was born togoldsmith Domenico Galvani and Barbara Caterina Foschi, inBologna, then part of thePapal States.[6] A portion of his childhood home still stands in the Giardino Salvatore Pincherle.[7][8]
In 1759, Galvani graduated with a degree in medicine and philosophy and began to practice medicine at nearby hospitals.[6] 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 theArchiginnasio di Bologna, which allowed him to start lecturing at theAcademy of Sciences of the Institue of Bologna (now part of theUniversity of Bologna) where he taught anatomy for most of his career.[6]
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."[6] In 1782, he was appointed Professor ofObstetric Arts, which he remained for the next 16 years.
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 andRamón María Termeyer in the 1760s,[9] and byJohn Walsh[10][11] andHugh Williamson in the 1770s.[12][13] 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 thescientific community and sparked heated controversy in Europe.[14]
ExperimentDe viribus electricitatis in motu musculari.
Late 1780s diagram of Galvani's experiment on frog legs.
Electrodes touch a frog, and the legs twitch into the upward position.[15] (see also:Frog galvanoscope)
Alessandro Volta, a professor of experimental physics in theUniversity 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.[13]
Every cell has acell potential; biological electricity has the same chemical underpinnings as the current betweenelectrochemical cells, 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.[16]
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.[13]
1862 painting of Luigi Galvani and Lucia Galeazzi Galvani.
Galvani married scientistLucia Galeazzi, daughter of his mentorDomenico Gusmano Galeazzi, in 1762.[6] 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."[6] He was noted for his religious devotion and saw his medical work as being a spiritual mission. French dermatologistJean-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.”[17]
Galvani actively investigated animal electricity until the end of his life. In April 1798, theCisalpine 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.[13]
Luigi Galvani'smonument in Piazza Luigi Galvani (Luigi Galvani Square), inBologna.
Galvani's report of his investigations were mentioned specifically byMary Shelley as part of the summer reading list leading up to anad hocghost story contest on a rainy day in Switzerland — and the resultant novelFrankenstein — and its reanimated construct. InFrankenstein, Victor studies the principles of galvanism but it is not mentioned in reference to the creation of the Monster.
^de Asúa, Miguel (9 April 2008). "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 of the History of the Neurosciences.17 (2):160–174.doi:10.1080/09647040601070325.PMID18421634.
^VanderVeer, Joseph B. (6 July 2011). "Hugh Williamson: Physician, Patriot, and Founding Father".Journal of the American Medical Association.306 (1).doi:10.1001/jama.2011.933.
![Electrodes touch a frog, and the legs twitch into the upward position.[15] (see also: Frog galvanoscope)](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=http%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aGalvani-frogs-legs-electricity.jpg)
