Luigi Galvani
1737-1798
ltalian Physician
Luigi Galvani was the pioneer of electrophysiology. A skilled anatomist, obstetrician, physician, and surgeon, Galvani conducted several experiments with animal nervous and muscular systems. After an accidental discovery of the relationship between electricity and muscle movement while dissecting a frog, Galvani proposed a theory of "animal electricity." Although his theory incorrectly identified the electro-conducting medium in animals as fluid, his research opened new lines of inquiry about the structure and function of the nervous system in both animals and humans.
Galvani was born on September 9, 1737 in Bologna, Italy. His original intention was to study theology and later enter a monastic order. However, Galvani was discouraged from pursuing monastic life in favor of continuing his studies of philosophy or medicine. He devoted his academic career at the University of Bologna to both interests and in 1759 received his degree in letters and medicine on the same day. In 1762, Galvani was named Professor of Anatomy at the university, and remained there for most of his career. His early works were primarily concerned with comparative anatomy.
In 1764, Galvani married Lucia Galleazzi, the daughter of a prominent member of the Bologna Academy of Science. Galvani's wife encouraged his independent research, and served as a counselor and guide for his experiments until her death. Drawing from his extensive training in anatomy and obstetrics, Galvani focused his research on the nature of muscular movement. While dissecting frogs for study, Galvani noticed that contact between certain metal instruments and the specimen's nerves provoked muscular contractions in the frog. Believing the contractions to be caused by electrostatic impulses, Galvani acquired a crude electrostatic machine and Leyden jar (used together to create and store static electricity), and began to experiment with muscular stimulation. He also experimented with natural electro-static occurrences. In 1786 Galvani observed muscular contractions in the legs of a specimen while touching a pairof scissors to the frog's lumbar nerve during a lightening storm. He also noticed that a simple metallic arch which connected certain tissues could be substituted for the electrostatic machine in inducing muscular convulsions.
Luigi Galvani. (Corbis Corporation. Reproduced with permission.)The detailed observations on Galvani's neurophysiological experiments on frogs, and his theories on muscular movement, were not published until a decade after their coincidental discovery. In 1792, Galvani published De Viribus Electricitatis in Motu Musculari (On Electrical Powers in the Movement of Muscles). The work set forth Galvani's theories on "animal electricity." He concluded that nerves were detectors of minute differences in external electrical potential, but that animal tissues and fluids must themselves possess electricity which is different from the "natural" electricity of lightening or an electrostatic machine. Galvani later proved the existence of bioelectricity by stimulating muscular contractions with the use of only one metallic contact—a pool of mercury.
Galvani's work altered the study of neurophysiology. Before his experiments, the nervous system was thought to be a system of ducts or water pipes, as proposed by Descartes. Galvani proved that there was a relationship between muscle movement and electricity and proposed that nerves were electric conductors. However, the nature of a different "animal electricity" which Galvani proposed was disproved later by Italian physicist, Alessandro Volta. Galvani had experimented with using animal fluids and metallic conductors—hence the reference to his name in the term "galvanized"—to create an electric pile, or battery. However, in 1800, Volta created the first successful battery which could produce a sustained electrical current. Thus, Volta effectively rejected Galvani's theory of "animal electricity."
After the death of his wife, Galvani joined the Third Monastic Order of the Franciscans. He continued his academic research, but when Napoleon seized control of Bologna in 1796, Galvani refused to swear the oath of allegiance to the newly created Cisalpine Republic on the basis that it contradicted his political and religious beliefs. As a result, he was stripped of his professorship and pension. Galvani died on December 4, 1798.
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