Francesco Gennari

Francesco Gennari (* 4 October 1750 in Mattaleto () di Langhirano; † 4 December 1797) was an Italian anatomist. He is known for line of Gennari, a macroscopically white band seen in the cerebral cortex of occipital lobe, which he observed on 2 February 1776 in the course of examining frozen sections of unstained human brain during his study in medical school. He mentioned it in his book "De peculiari structura cerebri, nonnulisque ejus morbis" and referred to it as "lineola albidior". This discovery is considered the first evidence that the cerebral cortex was not uniform in structure.

Gennari attended medical school in Parma and received a medical degree in 1776. He died young, penniless and compulsive gambler.

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