Lazzaro Spallanzani

Lazzaro Spallanzani
Lazzaro Spallanzani
    Lazzaro Spallanzani
     Catholic_Encyclopedia Lazzaro Spallanzani
    A distinguished eighteenth-century scientist, b. at Scadiano in Modena, Italy, 10 January, 1729; d. at Pavia, 12 February, 1799. His early education was received at the Jesuit College of Reggio. His scientific career began at the University of Bologna under the inspiration of his cousin, Laura Bassi, the famous woman professor of natural philosophy and mathematics. He gave up the study of law and was ordained a priest; at twenty-five he became professor of logic, metaphysics, and Greek in the University of Reggio. His favourite authors were Homer, Demosthenes, and St. Basil, and his work attracted so much attention that he was offered chairs at Coimbra (Portugal), Parma, and Cesena (Italy). He preferred a chair at Modena (1760) and devoted all his spare time to natural science. His work here brought offers of professorships at other Italian universities and from the Academy of St. Petersburg. In 1768, at the personal solicitation of the Empress Maria Theresa, he accepted the chair of natural history in the University of Pavia which was then being reorganized. He greatly enriched the museum here by collections made in journeys in Switzerland and along the Mediterranean. After the death of Vallisneri, whose chair at Padua had been the centre of interest in the natural sciences, Spallanzani was invited to take it, but the Austrian authorities doubled his salary and gave him a long leave of absence for a scientific expedition to Turkey to retain him. His home-coming was an ovation. He continued to make scientific journeys and special studies of Vesuvius and the volcanoes of Sicily and of the Lipari Islands. His contributions to every phase of physical science are valuable, but it was in biology that his work counted for most; his studies in regeneration are still classic. He showed experimentally that many animals like the lizard and the snail, if accidentally injured, regenerate important parts of their bodies; the land snail regenerates even its head. It was afterwards shown that this does not contain the brain, but it does contain eyes, mouth, tongue, and teeth, and these are all regenerated. Spallanzani made a long series of interesting experiments on artificial fecundation. His most important work is "Dissertazioni di fisica animale e vegetale" (Modena, 1780). His researches were so much appreciated that he was made a member of academies and learned societies of London, Madrid, Stockholm, Upsala, Göttingen, Holland, Lyons, Bologna, Milan, Siena, Turin, Padua, Mantua, Geneva, and Berlin. The University of Paris, then the most important of universities for the sciences, tempted him to come as a professor. His personal character was charming and he made many friends. His biological work brought him into controversies with Needham and Buffon over spontaneous generation, and with John Hunter over digestion. He came off victorious in both contests but with such gentle courtesy as not to offend, though his opponents in the taste of the time indulged in personalities. His family were devoted to him, and his sister Marianne herself became a distinguished naturalist while helping him. He was devoutly religious, and as Senebier says, "he perceived with firmness his end approaching and endeavoured by his piety and his faith to edify those who surrounded him."
    SENEBIER in Memoirs on Respiration (London, 1804); Edinburgh Medical Journal, 1807; TOURDES in Experiments on the Circulation of the Blood (London, 1801).
    JAMES J. WALSH
    Transcribed by Thomas J. Bress

The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume VIII. — New York: Robert Appleton Company. . 1910.


Catholic encyclopedia.

Игры ⚽ Нужно сделать НИР?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Lazzaro Spallanzani — Nacimiento 11 de enero de 1729 Scandiano Fallecimiento 12 de febrero de 1799 …   Wikipedia Español

  • Lazzaro Spallanzani — (10 janvier 1729, Scandiano 12 février 1799, Pavie) est un biologiste italien. Sommaire 1 Biographie …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Lazzaro Spallanzani — (* 12. Januar 1729 in Scandiano, heute Provinz Reggio Emilia; † 12. Februar 1799 in Pavia) war ein italienischer Priester, Philosoph und Universalwissenschaftler …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Lazzaro Spallanzani — Spallanzani, Lazzaro Naturalista italiano nacido en 1729. Realizó numerosos estudios sobre la reproducción, la digestión y la respiración. Además desmintió experimentalmente la posibilidad de la generación espontánea. Falleció en 1799. Medical… …   Diccionario médico

  • Lazzaro Spallanzani — Infobox Scientist name = Lazzaro Spallanzani box width = image width = 200 caption = Lazzaro Spallanzani birth date = Scandiano birth place = January 10, 1729 death date = Pavia death place = February 12, 1799 residence = citizenship =… …   Wikipedia

  • Lazzaro Spallanzani — noun Italian physiologist who disproved the theory of spontaneous generation (1729 1799) • Syn: ↑Spallanzani • Instance Hypernyms: ↑physiologist …   Useful english dictionary

  • Lazzaro Spalanzani — Lazzaro Spallanzani Lazzaro Spallanzani (* 10. Januar 1729 in Scandiano, heute Provinz Reggio Emilia; † 12. Februar 1799 in Pavia) war ein italienischer Priester, Philosoph und Universalwissenschaftler …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Spallanzani, Lazzaro — Naturalista italiano nacido en 1729. Realizó numerosos estudios sobre la reproducción, la digestión y la respiración. Además desmintió experimentalmente la posibilidad de la generación espontánea. Falleció en 1799. Medical Dictionary. 2011 …   Diccionario médico

  • Spallanzani — ist der Familienname folgender Personen: Elia Spallanzani (1920–1997), italienischer Schriftsteller Lazzaro Spallanzani (1719–1799), italienischer Biologe Diese Seite ist eine Begriffsklärung zur Unterscheidung mehrerer mit demselben Wort be …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Spallanzani (lunar crater) — lunar crater data latitude=46.3 N or S=S longitude=24.7 E or W=E diameter=32 km depth=1.5 km colong=336 eponym=Lazzaro SpallanzaniSpallanzani is a lunar crater. It is located in the rugged, crater marked terrain in the Moon s southern hemisphere …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”