Bartolomeo Panizza

Bartolomeo Panizza (August 17, 1785 – April 17, 1867) was an Italian anatomist born in Vicenza.

He received a medical degree in surgery from Padua, and furthered his studies at Bologna and Pavia. In 1809 he became a professor at the University of Pavia, and in 1835 a member of the Academia nazionale delle scienze (National Academy of Science). Panizza was a student and associate to famed anatomist Antonio Scarpa (1752-1832).

He was the first physician to attribute the vision function to the posterior cortex. He published his findings in an 1855 treatise titled "Osservazioni sul nervo ottico" (Observations on the Optic Nerve). At the time, his discovery was largely ignored, and it would be several years until the importance of Panizza's findings were realized.

In 1833 he described the "foramen of Panizza", defined as a hole with a valve that connects the left and right aorta in the crocodilian heart. He is also remembered for studies involving the lymphatic system of reptiles. The eponymous "Panizza's plexuses" are defined as two plexuses of lymph vessels located in the lateral fossae of the frenulum of the prepuce.

Panizza died in 1867 in Pavia.

In Pavia some landmarks stand as Panizza's memory.

the statue

the tomb

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