Francesco Redi

Francesco Redi
Portrait by Jacob Ferdinand Voet
Born(1626-02-18)18 February 1626
Arezzo, Grand Duchy of Tuscany
Died1 March 1697(1697-03-01) (aged 71)
Pisa, Grand Duchy of Tuscany
NationalityTuscan
Alma materUniversity of Pisa
Known forExperimental biology
Parasitology
Criticism of spontaneous generation
Scientific career
FieldsMedicine, entomology, parasitology, linguistics

Francesco Redi (18 February 1626 – 1 March 1697) was an Italian physician, naturalist, biologist, and poet.[1] He is referred to as the "founder of experimental biology",[2][3] and as the "father of modern parasitology".[4][5] He was the first person to challenge the theory of spontaneous generation by demonstrating that maggots come from eggs of flies.[6][7]

Having a doctoral degree in both medicine and philosophy from the University of Pisa at the age of 21, he worked in various cities of Italy. A rationalist of his time, he was a critic of verifiable myths, such as spontaneous generation.[8] His most famous experiments are described in his magnum opus Esperienze intorno alla generazione degl'insetti (Experiments on the Generation of Insects), published in 1668. He disproved that vipers drink wine and could break glasses, and that their venom was poisonous when ingested. He correctly observed that snake venoms were produced from the fangs, not the gallbladder, as was believed. He was also the first to recognize and correctly describe details of about 180 parasites, including Fasciola hepatica and Ascaris lumbricoides. He also distinguished earthworms from helminths (like tapeworms, flukes, and roundworms). He possibly originated the use of the control, the basis of experimental design in modern biology. A collection of his poems first published in 1685 Bacco in Toscana (Bacchus in Tuscany) is considered among the finest works of 17th-century Italian poetry, and for which the Grand Duke Cosimo III gave him a medal of honor.

  1. ^ "Francesco Redi". Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. Archived from the original on 23 October 2013. Retrieved 22 October 2013.
  2. ^ Leikola A (1977–78). "Francesco Redi as a pioneer of experimental biology". Lychnos Lardomshist Samf Arsb. 1977–78 (1–3): 115–122. PMID 11628017.
  3. ^ Ioli, A; Petithory, JC; Théodoridès, J (1997). "Francesco Redi and the birth of experimental parasitology". Histoire des sciences médicales. 31 (1): 61–6. PMID 11625103.
  4. ^ Roncalli Amici R (2001). "The history of Italian parasitology" (PDF). Veterinary Parasitology. 98 (1–3): 3–10. doi:10.1016/S0304-4017(01)00420-4. PMID 11516576. Archived from the original (PDF) on 23 October 2013.
  5. ^ Mehlhorn H (2008). Encyclopedia of Parasitology, Volumes 1-2 (3 ed.). Springer-Verlag. p. 610. ISBN 978-3540489948. Archived from the original on 24 June 2016. {{cite book}}: |journal= ignored (help)
  6. ^ Levine R, Evers C. "The Slow Death of Spontaneous Generation (1668-1859)". Archived from the original on 26 April 2008. Retrieved 18 April 2013.
  7. ^ "Francesco Redi and Controlled Experiments". www.scientus.org. Retrieved 10 December 2018.
  8. ^ "Francesco Redi". brunelleschi.imss.fi.it. 27 February 2008. Retrieved 10 December 2018.