Article Abstract:
Francesco Redi, who lived between 1626 and 1698, was head physician and superintendent of the ducal pharmacy and foundry in Florence, Italy. He was also a poet and very interested in classical literature. His reading of the 19th book of the 'Iliad' prompted him to consider whether worms found on dead bodies result from egg deposition by flies. He made a strong attack on the doctrine of spontaneous generation, providing experimental support for the principle that every living being originates from an egg.
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Article Abstract:
The work of Camillo Golgi, a professor of history and general pathology at the University of Pavia, Italy, continues to influence research in the fields of cellular and molecular biology. In particular, he established his reputation through his discovery in 1898 of an organelle in Purkinje cerebellar cells. He termed this organelle the 'internal reticular apparatus.' More recent research has succeeded in identifying the functions of the cisternae and vesicles that form the Golgi apparatus.
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Article Abstract:
The career of Roman Catholic priest and professor of natural history Lazzaro Spallanzani (1729-1799) is briefly described and the possibility that he was the basis for the fictional scientist Spalanzani in Ernst Theodor Amadeus Hoffman's story Der Sandmann, written in 1815, is discussed.
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