From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Filippo Pacini
Filippo Pacini
Filippo Pacini
This microscope slide, prepared by Pacini in 1854, was clearly
identified as containing the cholera bacillus.
toia. He learned his trade as a physician, and learned to
dissect and examine bodies with a microscope.
In 1831, during a dissection class, Pacini discovered
small sensory organs in the nervous system which can
detect pressure and vibrations. He studied them closely
from 1833 on, and first discussed them in 1835 at the "So-
cietà medico-fisica" in Florence, but did not publish his
Born 25 May 1812 research ("Nuovi organi scoperti nel corpo umano") until
Pistoia, Tuscany 1840. Within just a few years, the work was widely known
in Europe and the bodies had become known as Pacinian
Died 9 July 1883
Florence
corpuscles.
He served as an assistant to Paolo Savi in Pisa from
Residence Florence 1840 to 1843, then began working at the Institute of Hu-
Citizenship Italian man Anatomy. In 1847 Pacini began teaching at the
Lyceum in Florence, and then was named chair of Gener-
Nationality Italian al and Topographic Anatomy at the "Istituto di Studi Su-
Fields Anatomy periori" at the University of Florence in 1849, where he
remained to the end of his career.
Institutions Institute of Human Anatomy
The Asiatic Cholera Pandemic of 1846-63 which swept
Florence Lyceum
University of Florence Istituto di Studi through Florence in 1845–1846 brought the disease to the
Superiori center of Pacini’s attention. In 1854 he described the dis-
ease in a paper called "Microscopical observations and
Alma mater Pistoia
pathological deductions on cholera", but because of the
Doctoral Paolo Savi prevailing belief of Italian scientists in the miasma the-
advisor ory of disease, the work was not noted by others until
Known for Pacinian corpuscles many years after his death, despite additional publica-
Vibrio cholerae tions in 1865, 1866, 1871, 1876, and 1880 which identified
the cause of the disease’s lethality, and even proposed
Filippo Pacini (25 May 1812 – 9 July 1883) was an some effective treatments. John Snow, who disproved
Italian anatomist, posthumously famous for isolating the the miasma theory, and Robert Koch, widely credited
cholera bacillus Vibrio cholerae in 1854, well before Robert with the discovery of the bacillum thirty years later,
Koch’s more widely accepted discoveries thirty years lat- were unaware of his previous work.
er. When Koch, a much more widely respected scientist
Pacini was born in Pistoia, Tuscany to a humble fam- who had previously identified the tuberculosis bacillus,
ily, but was given a religious education in hopes that he presented his findings to the Cholera Commission of the
would become a bishop. However, in 1830 he was given a Imperial Health Office in Berlin in 1884, the commission
scholarship to the most venerable medical school in Pis- congratulated him, but also recognized Pacini’s previous
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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Filippo Pacini
discovery of the bacterium. In 1965, the international
committee on nomenclature adopted the formal name
References
Vibrio cholerae Pacini 1854 to honor his work. • UCLA: Who first discovered cholera?
During his career Pacini also published several stud- • Who Named It: Filippo Pacini
ies on the retina of the human eye, the electric organs in Persondata
electric fishes, the structure of bone, and the mechanics
Name Pacini, Filippo
of respiration.
Pacini did not marry, and spent most of the money Alternative names
remaining after his scientific investigation on the long Short description
term care of his two ailing sisters. He died nearly pen- Date of birth 25 May 1812
niless in Florence on July 9, 1883, and was buried in the
Place of birth Pistoia, Tuscany
cemetery of the Misericordia. In 1935 his remains were
transferred to the church of Santa Maria delle Grazie, Date of death 9 July 1883
along with the remains of Atto Tigri and Filippo Civinini, Place of death Florence
two other noted anatomists.
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Filippo_Pacini&oldid=438598916"
Categories:
• Italian anatomists
• Italian microbiologists
• 1812 births
• 1883 deaths
• People from Pistoia
• University of Florence faculty
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