Paolo Mascagni

Paolo Mascagni (25 January 1755 – 19 October 1815) was an Italian physician and anatomist. He is most well known for publishing the first complete description of the lymphatic system.

Biography Early life Mascagni was born in the comune of Pomarance (in the Province of Pisa) to Aurelio Mascagni and Elisabetta Burroni, both belonging to old gentry families of Chiusdino (in the Province of Siena). He studied philosophy and medicine at the University of Siena. Upon graduating in 1777, renowned anatomist Pietro Tabarrani took Mascagni as an assistant. Upon Tabarrani's death in 1780, Mascagni was appointed as an anatomy lecturer at the University of Siena.

Career

As a young man, Mascagni was interested in geological sciences, as evidenced by his several papers on the Lagoni (thermal springs) of Siena and Volterra. Upon graduation, he turned his interest to the human lymphatic system. His many discoveries in this field led to the composition and publication of Vasorum lymphaticorum corporis humani historia et iconographia in 1787.

In 1801, the Sardinian anatomist Francesco Antonio Boi became a student of Mascagni. Mascagni and Boi entered into a close collaboration as well as a personal friendship. The anatomical waxes are held in the Museo archeologico nazionale in Cagliari.

Death Mascagni died of sepsis in 1815.

Legacy Mascagni posthumously published two works: Prodromo della grande anatomia (1821) Anatomicae universae iconae (1823)

Mascagni has been posthumously credited with the first discovery of meningeal lymphatic vessels, though his findings were disregarded during his lifetime. These vessels were conclusively discovered in mice in 2014 and subsequently confirmed in humans and non-human primates in 2017.