Luigi Galvani

Luigi Galvani
Luigi Galvani physician famous for pioneering bioelectricity
Born	(1737-09-09)September 9, 1737 Bologna, Papal States
Died	December 4, 1798(1798-12-04) (aged 61) Bologna, Papal States
Institutions	University of Bologna
Known for	Bioelectricity (animal electricity)

Luigi Aloisio Galvani (Latin: Aloysius Galvanus; September 9, 1737 – December 4, 1798) was an Italian physician, physicist, biologist and philosopher, who discovered animal electricity. He is recognized as the pioneer of bioelectromagnetics. In 1780, he discovered that the muscles of dead frogs' legs twitched when struck by an electrical spark. This was one of the first forays into the study of bioelectricity, a field that still studies the electrical patterns and signals from tissues such as the nerves and muscles.

Luigi Galvani was born to Domenico and Barbara Foschi, in Bologna, Papal State. Domenico was a goldsmith and Barbara was his fourth wife. His family was not aristocratic, but they could afford to send at least one of their sons to study at a university. At first Galvani wished to enter the church. So he joined a religious institution, Oratorio dei Padri Filippini, at 15 years old. He planned to take religious vows, but his parents persuaded him not to do so. Around 1755, Galvani entered the Faculty of the Arts of the University of Bologna. Galvani attended the medicine course, which lasted four years, and was characterized by its "bookish" teaching. Texts that dominated this course were by Hippocrates, Galen, and Avicenna.

Another discipline Galvani learned alongside medicine was surgery. He learned the theory and the practice. This part of his biography is typically overlooked, but it helped with his experiments with animals and helped familiarize Galvani with the manipulation of a living body.

In 1759, Galvani graduated with degrees in medicine and philosophy. He applied for a position as a lecturer at the university. Part of this process required him to defend his thesis on June 21, 1761. In the following year, 1762, he became a permanent anatomist of the university and was appointed honorary lecturer of surgery. That same year he married Lucia Galeazzi, daughter of one of his professors, Gusmano Galeazzi. Galvani moved into the Galeazzi house and helped with his father-in-law's research. When Galeazzi died in 1775, Galvani was appointed professor and lecturer in Galeazzi's place.