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Carlo Matteucci | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | (1811-06-20)20 June 1811 |
| Died | 24 June 1868(1868-06-24) (aged 57) |
| Alma mater | University of Bologna (PhD) (1829) |
| Known for | Matteucci effect |
| Awards | Copley Medal (1844) |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Physics Neurophysiology |
| Institutions | University of Pisa |
| President of the Accademia nazionale delle scienze | |
| In office 2 September 1866 – 24 May 1868 | |
| Preceded by | Stefano Marianini |
| Succeeded by | Francesco Brioschi |
Carlo Matteucci (20 June 1811 – 24 June 1868) was an Italianphysicist andneurophysiologist who was a pioneer in the study ofbioelectricity.[1]
Carlo Matteucci was born atForlì, in the province ofRomagna, to Vincenzo Matteucci, a physician, and Chiara Folfi. He studied mathematics at theUniversity of Bologna from 1825 to 1828, receiving his doctorate in 1829.[2] From 1829 to 1831, he studied at theÉcole Polytechnique in Paris, France. Upon returning to Italy, Matteucci studied atBologna (1832),Florence,Ravenna (1837) andPisa. He established himself as the head of the laboratory of the Hospital of Ravenna and became a professor of physics at the local college. In 1840, by recommendation ofFrançois Arago (1786–1853), his teacher at the École Polytechnique, to the Grand-Duke ofTuscany, Matteucci accepted a post of professor ofphysics at theUniversity of Pisa.
Instigated by the work ofLuigi Galvani (1737–1798) on bioelectricity, Matteucci began in 1830 a series of experiments which he pursued until his death in 1865. Using a sensitivegalvanometer ofLeopoldo Nobili, he was able to prove that injured excitable biological tissues generated directelectrical currents, and that they could be summed up by adding elements in series, like inAlessandro Volta’s (1745-1827)electric pile. Thus, Mateucci was able to develop what he called a "rheoscopic frog", by using the cutnerve of a frog's leg and its attachedmuscle as a kind of sensitive electricity detector. His work in bioelectricity influenced directly the research developed byEmil du Bois-Reymond (1818–1896), a student of the great German biologistJohannes Peter Müller (1801–1858) in Berlin, who tried the duplicate Matteucci's experiments and ended up discovering the nerve'saction potential. In 1844, for these studies, Matteucci was awarded with the Copley medal by theRoyal Society.
From 1847, he took an active part in politics, and in 1860 was chosen anItalian senator, at the same time becoming inspector-general of the Italiantelegraph lines. Two years later he was appointed Minister of Education.
Matteucci died in the Ardenza neighbourhood ofLivorno in 1868.
Matteucci was the author of four scientific treatises in physics:
His numerous papers were published in theAnnales de chimie et de physique (1829–1858); and most of them also appeared at the time in the Italian scientific journals. They relate almost entirely to electrical phenomena, such as the magnetic rotation oflight, the action ofgas batteries, the effects oftorsion onmagnetism,[3] theelectric polarization ofelectrodes, etc., sufficiently complete accounts of which are given inWiedemann'sGalvanismus.
Nine memoirs, entitledElectro-Physiological Researches, were published in thePhilosophical Transactions, 1845–1860. See Bianchi'sCarlo Matteucci e l’Italia del suo tempo (Rome, 1874).
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Matteucci, Carlo".Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
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