Everything about Luigi Galvani totally explained
Luigi Galvani Italian physician and
physicist who lived and died in
Bologna. In 1771, he discovered that the muscles of dead frogs twitched when struck by a spark. He was a pioneer in modern
obstetrics, and discovered that
muscle and
nerve cells produce
electricity.
Early life
At first he thought about being a mechanic because he loved taking and dealing with spool testing. Galvani attended Bologna's medicine school and became a medical doctor like his father. In 1764 he married a Lucia Galleazzi, a daughter of a professor at the University of Bologna and a well-liked woman of society. In 1772 Galvani became president of the University.
Frog legs
In 1783, according to popular version of the story, Galvani dissected a
frog at a table where he'd been conducting experiments with
static electricity, Galvani's assistant touched an exposed
sciatic nerve of the frog with a metal
scalpel, which had picked up a charge. At that moment, they saw sparks in an electricity machine and 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. This finding provided the basis for the current understanding that electrical energy (carried by ions), and not air or fluid as in earlier
balloonist theories, is the impetus behind muscle movement. He is typically credited with the discovery of
bioelectricity.
Galvani called the term
animal electricity to describe whatever it was that activated the
muscles of his specimens. Along with contemporaries, he regarded their activation as being generated by an electrical fluid that's carried to the muscles by the
nerves. The phenomenon was dubbed "
galvanism", after Galvani, on the suggestion of his peer and sometime intellectual adversary
Alessandro Volta
Animal electricity vs. heat electricity
Galvani's investigations led shortly to the invention of an early
battery, but not by Galvani, who didn't perceive electricity as separable from biology. Galvani didn't see electricity as the essence of life, which he regarded
vitalistically. Galvani believed that the animal electricity came from the muscle. Galvani's associate
Alessandro Volta, in opposition, reasoned that the animal electricity was a physical phenomenon, for example a metallic electricity.
While, as Galvani believed, all life is indeed electrical, specifically that all living things are made of
cells and every cell has a
cell potential, biological electricity has the same chemical underpinnings as the flow of current between
electrochemical cells, and thus can be recapitulated in a way 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.
Thus, owing to an argument between the two, in regard to the source or cause of the electricity, Volta built the first battery in order to specifically disprove his associate's theory. Volta's “pile” became known therefore as a “
voltaic pile”.
Later life
Lucia, Galvani's wife died in 1790 at age 47. Luigi died eight years later at the age of 61.
Galvani’s landmarks in Bologna
Galvani’s home in Bologna has been preserved and can be seen in the central via Marconi. On the facade of the house, now a seat of a bank, there's a medallion with the face of Galvani and double inscription in Italian and Latin: "NATO ACCOLSI GALVANI E PIANSI ESTINTO. PER LUI FU L'UNO ALL'ALTRO POLO AVVINTO - GALVANUM EXCEPI NATUM LUXIQUE PEREMPTUM CUIUS AB INVENTO IUNCTUS UTERQUE POLUS" (I received the newborn Galvani; I cried him dead / He held together both the electric poles).
Galvani’s monument. In the square dedicated to him, facing the palace of the
Archiginnasio, the ancient seat of the
University of Bologna, a big marble statue has been erected to the scientist while observing one of his famous frog preparation.
Image:Luigi Galvani's home in Bologna 2.JPG|Galvani’s home
Image:Galvani's home in Bologna 1.JPG|The medallion and the inscription on the facade
Image:Luigi Galvani's monument in Bologna 1.JPG|The monument in its context
Image:Luigi Galvani's monument in Bologna 2.JPG|Particular of the statue with the frog preparation
Miscellaneous
- 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 electrically reanimated construct.
- Galvani's name also survives in the Galvanic cell, the galvanometer and galvanization.
- Galvani crater, on the Moon, is also named after him.
Further Information
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