Corrado Tommasi-Crudeli

Corrado Tommasi-Crudeli
Bust of Tommasi-Crudeli at Gianicolo park in Rome
Born	(1835-01-31)31 January 1835 Pieve Santo Stefano, Tuscany, Italy
Died	31 May 1900(1900-05-31) (aged 65) Rome
Residence	Rome
Nationality	Italian
Citizenship	Italian
Alma mater	University of Pisa
Spouse(s)	Bianca Fontini
Scientific career
Fields	Medicine, pathology
Institutions	Sapienza University of Rome
Influences	Rudolf Virchow
Influenced	Angelo Celli Ettore Marchiafava

Corrado Tommasi-Crudeli (31 January 1834 to 31 May 1900) was an Italian physician known for his works in pathology and hygiene. He studied for his medical degree at the University of Pisa. He was trained in pathology under the German pathologist Rudolf Virchow. He worked in medical services at Florence, Palermo, and Rome. He was Chair of Pathology at the Sapienza University of Rome. He was known to the public for his service during cholera outbreak and in establishing hospitals, particularly the Institute for Experimental Hygiene (Istituto di Igiene Sperimentale) in Rome. He was elected to Italian Senate during 1892–1893. He, with Edwin Klebs, discovered that typhoid and diphtheria were caused by bacteria. However, they made mistake in declaring that a bacterium (which they called Bacillus malariae) was also responsible for malaria.

Tommasi-Crudeli was the eldest son of Peter Tommasi (the surname Tommasi-Crudeli was adopted later) and Elisa Gatteschi. His father was a Medical Officer at Pieve Santo Stefano, and his mother a landowner. He had three brothers, Stefano, Eugenio, and Adele. He completed medical course and obtained MD degree from the University of Pisa. He went to France and Germany to have further training in pathology and worked with Rudolf Virchow at the University of Berlin. In 1859 the Second Italian War of Independence broke out which prompted Tommasi-Crudeli to go home and fight for his country. He volunteered as army physician, and was posted as lieutenant doctor among the troop called Hunters of the Apennines under the command of Giuseppe Garibaldi. He was wounded at the war front in Milazzo, and then again at Messina. By the end of the Third Italian War of Independence in 1866 his bravery had earned him Honorary Major of the 77th infantry. In 1866 he was designated by the Italian government to control an outbreak of cholera in Palermo, where the disease was rampant among the soldiers. He was successful.