Talk:Luigi Galvani
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[edit] Quotes
Did luigi galvani have any quotes? --11 December 2004 (edit) User:64.139.184.12 (Talk)
[edit] Frog's Leg
The statement has frequently been repeated that, in 1786, Galvani had noticed that the leg of a skinned frog, on being accidentally touched by a scalpel which had lain near an electrical machine, was thrown into violent convulsions; and that it was thus that his attention was first directed to the relations Of animal functions to electricity. From documents in the pdssession of the Institute of Bologna, however, it appears that twenty years previous to the publication of his Commentary Galvani was already engaged in investigations as to the action of electricity upon the muscles of frogs. The observation that the suspension of certain of these animals on an iron railing by copper hooks caused twitching in the muscles of their legs led him to the invention of his metallic arc, the first experiment with which is described in the third part of the Commentary, with the date September 20, 1786. [1] --10 October 2005 (edit) (undo) User:Omegatron (Talk | contribs)
- Good work, I added some of this. --Sadi Carnot 16:10, 6 February 2007 (UTC)
I've heard some things about Galvani's wife having something to do with the observation of that particular event, but can find nothing on the 'net about it. Anyone know anything about this? K K 08:07, 6 May 2007 (UTC)
[edit] Galvani's Wife & Earlier Bioelectricity Experiments
I'm writing a paper loosely related to Galvani's work right now, and have come across an account that does put his wife in the room with him (suggesting she was in fact the person to notice the frog's leg twitch). The book is by Herbert W. Meyer, called A History of Electricity & Magnetism (1971), published by MIT press.
Also, this book suggests that Galvani was not the first to observe the connection between animal matter and electricity, though he may have been the first to associate this phenomenon with nerve endings specifically. Apparently, some physiologists named Joseph and Caldani (French and Italian) noted the contractions of frog leg muscles under the influence of electricity in 1700, and Dutch biologist Jan Swammerdam also performed some similar experiments in 1752.
Can anyone confirm this?
Joannayo 16:30, 4 December 2007 (UTC)
[edit] Only professor's daughter ever?
"In 1764 he married a well-liked woman of society named, Lucia Galleazzi, she is the only daughter of a professor at the University of Bologna." When I first read that, I laughed quite heartily at the thought of a thousand-year-old university, which had probably had thousands of professors, producing only one professor who ever had a daughter. Then I re-read it and realized that it meant that she was the only daughter of a specific person, which made me feel foolish.
Then I read it a third time, and realized that the wording itself is foolish as well. The professor is not named, so it seems like a generic use of any professor from that university in all of history. If a woman who has been dead for two centuries is referred to in the present tense "she is the only...." then it should refer to something that is ongoing and contemporary, such as a long-standing, utterly preposterous, unenforceable, and only-once-broken rule about a lack of daughters among University of Bologna professors. It sounds to me like you could perfectly modify it to say "she is to this date the only..." and achieve the same exact meaning... which is why I shall be tweaking it. Chaparral2J (talk) 12:28, 3 May 2008 (UTC)
[edit] Source of "animal electricty"
Hi I read from a number of sites about Luigi Galvani's belief that the source of "animal electricty" was from a fluid secreted by the brain. Does anyone have any verification of this or sources that I can reference for the article?
-Bill-
June 9, 2008
