Luigi Galvani

Introduction
Early years
Electrical nature of nerve impulse
Last years

References & Edit History Quick Facts & Related Topics

Images & Videos

Engraved portrait of Luigi Galvani, shown in formal 18th-century attire with curled hair, related to his research on electrical stimulation of animal tissues.

At a Glance

Luigi Galvani summary

Quizzes

Michael Faraday (L) English physicist and chemist (electromagnetism) and John Frederic Daniell (R) British chemist and meteorologist who invented the Daniell cell.

Faces of Science

Italian-born physicist Dr. Enrico Fermi draws a diagram at a blackboard with mathematical equations. circa 1950.

Physics and Natural Law

Related Questions

How did Luigi Galvani challenge Alessandro Volta’s explanation with pieces of the same material?
How did Luigi Galvani compare muscles and nerves to a Leyden jar?
How did Luigi Galvani explain the source of electrical force in animal tissue?
How did Luigi Galvani think nerves carried electric fluid through the body?
How did Luigi Galvani’s early anatomy research lead toward physiology?
How did Luigi Galvani’s experiments influence Alessandro Volta’s invention of the battery?
How did Luigi Galvani’s work help establish the study of electrophysiology?
How did a Leyden jar store electricity?
How did the contact of two different metals affect a frog muscle in Alessandro Volta’s experiments?
How did the word galvanism become connected to Luigi Galvani’s experiments?
How did the word galvanize develop a figurative meaning of spurring people into action?
What did Luigi Galvani argue in his 1794 book about the conductive arch?
What happened when Luigi Galvani touched a frog’s nerves with scissors during an electrical storm?
What subject did Luigi Galvani examine in his doctoral thesis De ossibus?
What was the full title of Luigi Galvani’s 1791 essay on electricity and muscles?
When and where was Luigi Galvani born?
When did Luigi Galvani publish his findings about electricity and muscular motion?
Where did Luigi Galvani study medicine?
Which electrical devices did Luigi Galvani acquire for his experiments in the late 1770s?
Which features of metals did Alessandro Volta think affected the electrical response of frog muscles?
Which materials separated the metal disks in Alessandro Volta’s voltaic pile?
Which part of Alessandro Volta’s theory about metals and electrophysiology was incorrect?
Which part of Luigi Galvani’s animal-electricity theory was incorrect?
Which scientists supported Luigi Galvani during the animal-electricity controversy?
Whom did Luigi Galvani marry in 1762?
Why did Luigi Galvani believe electricity caused muscle fibers to contract?
Why did Luigi Galvani believe the brain was important in animal electricity?
Why did Luigi Galvani study the anatomy of frogs?
Why did the scientific dispute between Luigi Galvani and Alessandro Volta not become personally hostile?
What did Laura Bassi study?
What were Laura Bassi’s accomplishments?
How has Galileo influenced science?

Health & Medicine Medicine Physicians

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External Websites

National High Magnetic Field Laboratory - Magnet Academy - Biography of Luigi Galvani

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Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students.

Luigi Galvani - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up)

Galvani, Luigi Luigi Galvani in an illustration from *Le Journal de la Jeunesse*, Paris, 1880.

Luigi Galvani

Italian physician and physicist

Written by

Bern Dibner

Historian of science and technology. Founder and Director, Burndy Library, Norwalk, Connecticut, 1935–88. Author of Heralds of Science.

Bern Dibner

Fact-checked by

Britannica Editors

Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree....

Britannica Editors

History

Luigi Galvani (born September 9, 1737, Bologna, Papal States [Italy]—died December 4, 1798, Bologna, Cisalpine Republic) was an Italian physician and physicist who investigated the nature and effects of what he conceived to be electricity in animal tissue. His discoveries led to the invention of the voltaic pile, a kind of battery that makes possible a constant source of current electricity. Galvani followed his father’s preference for medicine by attending the University of Bologna, graduating...

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