Luigi Galvani

Luigi Galvani ( , ; ; ; 9 September 1737 – 4 December 1798) was an Italian physician, physicist, biologist and philosopher who studied animal electricity. In 1780, using a frog, he discovered that the muscles of dead frogs' legs twitched when struck by an electrical spark. This was an early study of bioelectricity, following experiments by John Walsh and Hugh Williamson.

Early life and career Luigi Galvani was born to goldsmith Domenico Galvani and Barbara Caterina Foschi, in Bologna, then part of the Papal States. A portion of his childhood home still stands in the Giardino Salvatore Pincherle. As a teenager, he regularly attended the Oratory of Saint Philip Neri of Bologna, where he developed a strong religious sentiment that later prompted him to join the Third Order of Saint Francis.

In 1754, Galvani enrolled at the University of Bologna, where he studied theoretical medicine under Jacopo Bartolomeo Beccari, a student of Marcello Malpighi. He also attended lectures on natural history and experimental physics held in the Institute of Bologna by Giuseppe Monti and Domenico Maria Gusmano Galeazzi. In 1759, Galvani graduated with a degree in medicine and philosophy and began to practice medicine at nearby hospitals. and by John Walsh and Hugh Williamson in the 1770s. The publication in 1791 of Galvani’s main work (De Viribus Electricitatis in Motu Musculari Commentarius), summarizing and discussing more than 10 years of research on the effect of electricity on animal preparations, had an enormous impact on the scientific community and sparked heated controversy in Europe.

Galvani vs. Volta

Alessandro Volta, a professor of experimental physics at the University of Pavia, was among the first scientists who repeated and checked Galvani’s experiments. At first, he embraced animal electricity. However, he started to doubt that the conductivities were caused by specific electricity intrinsic to the animal's legs or other body parts. Volta believed that the contractions depended on the metal cable Galvani used to connect the nerves and muscles in his experiments.

Since Galvani was reluctant to intervene in the controversy with Volta, he trusted his nephew, Giovanni Aldini, to act as the main defender of the theory of animal electricity.

Death and legacy Galvani actively investigated animal electricity until the end of his life. In April 1798, the Cisalpine Republic, a French client state founded after the French occupation of Northern Italy, required every university professor to swear loyalty to the new authority. Galvani disagreed with the oath and refused to take it; as a result, he was stripped of his offices and sent into poverty. Aldini led a movement to restore him to his university position — it was successful, but his restoration was only announced shortly before his death. Galvani died in his brother’s house on 4 December 1798.

Works De viribus electricitatis in motu musculari commentarius , 1791. The Institute of Sciences, Bologna.