Lazzaro Spallanzani

Lazzaro Spallanzani

(January 10, 1729 – February 12, 1799) was an Italian Catholic priest, biologist and physiologist who made important contributions to the experimental study of bodily functions, animal reproduction, and essentially discovered echolocation. His research of biogenesis paved the way for the investigations of Louis Pasteur.

In 1754, at the age of 25 he became professor of logic, metaphysics and Greek in the University of Reggio. In 1762 he was ordained as a priest, 1763 he was moved to Modena,^[1]   In 1775, Spallanzani was elected a foreign member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.  His life was one of constant eager questioning of nature on all sides, and his many and varied works all bear the stamp of a fresh and original genius, capable of stating and solving problems in all departments of science -- at one time finding the true explanation of stone skipping (formerly attributed to the elasticity of water) and at another helping to lay the foundations of our modern vulcanology and meteorology.

Spallanzani was a Catholic who researched the theory about the spontaneous generation of cellular life in 1768. His experiment suggested that microbes move through the air and that they could be killed through boiling. Critics of Spallazani's work argued his experiments destroyed the "life force" that was required for spontaneous generation to occur. His work paved the way for later research by Louis Pasteur, who defeated the theory of spontaneous generation.

References

1. ^ "Spallanani - Uomo e scienziato" (in Italian). Il museo di Lazzaro Spallanani. http://www-3.unipv.it/webbio/spalla99/spallanz.htm. Retrieved 2010-06-07. 

• Paul de Kruif, Microbe Hunters (2002 reprint) ISBN: 13-9780156027779
• Nordenskiöld, E. P. 1935 [Spallanzani, L.] Hist. of Biol. 247-248
• Rostand, J. 1997, Lazzaro Spallanzani e le origini della biologia sperimentale, Torino, Einaudi.