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Marcello Malpighi

Founder of microscopical anatomy and histology, pioneer of capillary discovery.

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Marcello Malpighi

via Wikipedia: Marcello Malpighi · see source

Several physiological features, including Malpighian corpuscles of the kidneys and Malpighian tubules of insects, bear his name.[1] Born on 10 March 1628 and dying on 30 November 1694, Marcello Malpighi was an Italian physician and biologist who is called the "founder of microscopical anatomy, histology and father of physiology and embryology".[1] The connection between arteries and veins that William Harvey could not find was discovered by Malpighi, who was the initial observer of capillaries in animals.[1]

Life and work

In 1653 he was granted doctorates in both medicine and philosophy despite opposition from university authorities because he was non-Bolognese by birth.[2] In 1661, Malpighi observed capillary structures in frog lungs, discovering the capillary network that contrasted the previous view of an open circulatory system.[3] He died of apoplexy in Rome on 30 November 1694, and an autopsy was performed in accordance with his wishes.[4] At Crevalcore, near Bologna, Italy, Marcello Malpighi came into the world on 10 March 1628, and at age 17 he began his studies at the University of Bologna.[5]

In his 1661 publication "De pulmonibus observationes anatomicae", Malpighi described the airways as branching into thin, membraned spherical cavities that he compared to honeycomb holes surrounded by capillary vessels, structures now called alveoli.[6] The 1666 treatise De polypo cordis contained Malpighi's description of how blood clots took different forms in the heart's right side compared to the left side.[1] Through his microscopic studies, Malpighi examined the brain's anatomy and reached the conclusion that it functions as a gland.[7]

What the cited sources add

A 2011 book by Domenico Bertoloni Meli, "Mechanism, Experiment, Disease," notes that Malpighi observed that removing a ring-like portion of bark on a trunk caused swelling above the ring, which he correctly interpreted as growth stimulated by food coming down from the leaves.[8][9] The same source states that his study of plants led him to conclude plants had tubules similar to those he saw in insects like the silkworm.[8][9] According to a 2015 handbook on olfaction and gustation, Malpighi in 1686 examined a bovine tongue and separated the tongue papillae into distinct "patches" along the length of the tongue.[10][11]

References

  1. Wikipedia, "Marcello Malpighi" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Forrester, "Malpighi's De polypo cordis: an annotated translation", Medical History, October 1995, p. 477–492; Lorraine Daston, "Histories of Scientific Observation", University of Chicago Press, 2011, p. 440 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  2. Wikipedia, "Marcello Malpighi" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Franchini, "The Origin of the University of Bologna", Annals of Medical History, 1932, p. 187–198 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  3. Wikipedia, "Marcello Malpighi" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Gillispie, "more recent edition available", Princeton University Press, 1960, p. 72}}{{cite book; Saraf, "Marcello malpighi—A tribute", Urology, June 1984, p. 619–623; West, "Marcello Malpighi and the discovery of the pulmonary capillaries and alveoli", American Journal of Physiology. Lung Cellular and Molecular Physiology, 2013-02-01, p. L383–L390; West, "Marcello Malpighi and the discovery of the pulmonary capillaries and alveoli", American Journal of Physiology. Lung Cellular and Molecular Physiology, 2013-02-01, p. L383–L390; Sara en.wikipedia.org
  4. Wikipedia, "Marcello Malpighi" (CC BY-SA 4.0) en.wikipedia.org
  5. Wikipedia, "Marcello Malpighi" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: ; Murray Scott, Flora, "The Botany of Marcello Malpighi, Doctor of Medicine", The Scientific Monthly, 1927, p. 546–553 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  6. Wikipedia, "Marcello Malpighi" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Fughelli Patrizia, "Marcello Malpighi (1628–1694)", Circulation Research, 2019-05-10, p. 1430–1432; West, "Marcello Malpighi and the discovery of the pulmonary capillaries and alveoli", American Journal of Physiology. Lung Cellular and Molecular Physiology, 2013-02-01, p. L383–L390; Bolam, Jeanne, "The Botanical Works of Nehemiah Grew, F.R.S. (1641–1712)", Notes and Records of the Royal Society of London, 1973, p. 219–231 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  7. Wikipedia, "Marcello Malpighi" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Benjamin A. Rifkin and Michael J. Ackerman, "Human Anatomy: A Visual History from the Renaissance to the Digital Age", Abrams Books, 2011, p. 343 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  8. Open Library record, ISBN 9780801899041 ("Mechanism, experiment, disease"). CC0 (metadata); book content not read. openlibrary.org
  9. Wikipedia, "Marcello Malpighi" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Domenico Bertoloni Meli, "Mechanism, Experiment, Disease: Marcello Malpighi and Seventeenth-Century Anatomy", Johns Hopkins University Press, 2011, p. 456 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  10. Open Library record, ISBN 9781118971758 ("Handbook of Olfaction and Gustation"). CC0 (metadata); book content not read. openlibrary.org
  11. Wikipedia, "Marcello Malpighi" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Reveron, "Marcello Malpighi (1628-1694), Founder of Microanatomy", Int. J. Morphol, 2011, p. 399–402; Reveron, "Marcello Malpighi (1628-1694), Founder of Microanatomy", Int. J. Morphol, 2011, p. 399–402; "Handbook of Olfaction and Gustation: Doty/Handbook of Olfaction and Gustation", John Wiley & Sons, Inc, 2015-05-12; "Handbook of Olfaction and Gustation: Doty/Handbook of Olfaction and Gustation", John Wiley & Sons, Inc, 2015-05-12; Pearce, "Malpighi and the Discovery of Capillaries", European Neurology, 2007, p. 253–255 (we also rea en.wikipedia.org

Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Marcello Malpighi (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.

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Sources

Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.

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