Bresadola M
International Centre for the History of Universities and Science (CIS), University of Bologna, Italy.
Brain Res Bull. 1998 Jul 15;46(5):367-80. doi: 10.1016/s0361-9230(98)00023-9.
Together with its companion paper, dealing with the contribution of Luigi Galvani to the history of electrophysiology, this article provides a biographical sketch of the scientist of Bologna in the occasion of the bicentenary of his death. Studies on Galvani have focused mainly on his "discovery" of animal electricity, and on the controversy with Alessandro Volta. Much less is known about Galvani's life and activity as a teacher, physician, and researcher in the fields of comparative anatomy, physiology, and chemistry of life. Yet, a balanced assessment of the significance and the role of Galvani's research in the history of science will be possible only after a historical reconstruction of his entire activity. This should take into account aspects of Galvani's life that have been little studied up to now: Galvani's scientific background, the scientific context in which his interest for muscular physiology arose, the interplay between his activity as a researcher and as a physician, the origin and characteristics of his experimental approach to biological studies, and the development of his experimental research in the crucial period culminating in his electrophysiological explanation of muscular motion. The present article aims at offering a contribution in this direction.
与探讨路易吉·伽伐尼对电生理学历史贡献的姊妹篇论文一同，本文在这位博洛尼亚科学家逝世两百周年之际，呈现了他的生平简况。对伽伐尼的研究主要集中在他对动物电的“发现”以及与亚历山德罗·伏特的争论上。而对于伽伐尼作为教师、医生以及在比较解剖学、生理学和生命化学领域的研究者的生活与活动，人们所知甚少。然而，只有在对他的全部活动进行历史重构之后，才有可能对伽伐尼研究在科学史上的意义和作用进行全面评估。这应当考虑到伽伐尼生活中迄今鲜有研究的方面：伽伐尼的科学背景、他对肌肉生理学产生兴趣时的科学背景、他作为研究者和医生的活动之间的相互作用、他对生物学研究的实验方法的起源和特点，以及在以他对肌肉运动的电生理解释为高潮的关键时期他的实验研究的发展。本文旨在朝这个方向做出贡献。
