Lazzaro Spallanzani (; 12 January 1729 – 11 February 1799) was an Italian Catholic priest (for which he was nicknamed Abbé Spallanzani), biologist and physiologist who made important contributions to the experimental study of bodily functions, animal reproduction, and animal echolocation. His research on biogenesis paved the way for the downfall of the theory of spontaneous generation, a prevailing idea at the time that organisms develop from inanimate matters, though the final death blow to the idea was dealt by French scientist Louis Pasteur a century later.

His most important works were summed up in his book Expériences pour servir a l'histoire de la génération des animaux et des plantes (Experiences to Serve to the History of the Generation of Animals and Plants), published in 1785. Among his contributions were experimental demonstrations of fertilisation between ova and spermatozoa, and in vitro fertilisation.

Biography

thumb|The statue of Spallanzani in Scandiano has him examining a frog through a magnifying glass.

thumb|Plaque dedicated to Spallanzani in [[Portovenere, Italy]]

thumb|Dissertazioni di fisica animale e vegetabile, 1780

Spallanzani was born in Scandiano in the modern province of Reggio Emilia to Gianniccolo Spallanzani and Lucia Zigliani. His father, a lawyer by profession, was not impressed with young Spallanzani who spent more time with small animals than studies. With financial support from the Vallisnieri Foundation, his father enrolled him in the Jesuit Seminary at age 15. When he was asked to join the order, he declined. Persuaded by his father and with the help of Monsignor Castelvetro, the Bishop of Reggio, he studied law at the University of Bologna, which he gave up soon and turned to science. Here, his famous kinswoman, Laura Bassi, was a professor of physics and it is to her influence that his scientific impulse has been usually attributed. With her, he studied natural philosophy and mathematics, and gave also great attention to languages, both ancient and modern, but soon abandoned them. It took him a good friend Antonio Vallisnieri Jr. to convince his father to drop law as a career and take up academics instead.

In 1754, at the age of 25, soon after he was ordained he became professor of logic, metaphysics and Greek in the University of Reggio.

In 1796, Spallanzani received an offer for professor at the National Museum of Natural History, France in Paris, but declined due to his age. He died from bladder cancer on 12 February 1799, in Pavia. After his death, his bladder was removed for study by his colleagues, after which it was placed on public display in a museum in Pavia, where it remains to this day.

Spallanzani gained fame among his contemporaries as an avid traveller, collector, and teacher who embraced controversial ideas. His letters document his close relationships with many scholars and philosophers, such as Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon, Lavoisier, and Voltaire. Alongside his research into animal biology and physiology, Spallanzani's work also contributed to the foundations of modern volcanology, meteorology and he clarified the mechanics of stone skipping, debunking the earlier belief that it was caused by water’s elasticity. Spallanzani's experiment showed that it is not an inherent feature of matter and that it can be destroyed by an hour of boiling. As the microbes did not re-appear as long as the material was hermetically sealed, he proposed that microbes move through the air and that they could be killed through boiling. Needham argued that experiments destroyed the "vegetative force" that was required for spontaneous generation to occur. Spallanzani paved the way for research by Louis Pasteur, who defeated the theory of spontaneous generation almost a century later. Spallanzani showed that some animals, especially newts, can regenerate some parts of their body if injured or surgically removed.

Echolocation

Spallanzani is also famous for extensive experiments in 1793 on how bats could fly at night to detect objects (including prey) and avoid obstacles, where he concluded that bats do not use their eyes for navigation, but some other sense.

He concluded that bats do not need vision for navigation; although he failed to find the reason. At the time other scientists were sceptical and ridiculed his findings. He was still suspicious that deafness alone was the cause of disoriented flight and that hearing was vital that he conducted some rather painful experiments such as burning and removing the external ear, and piercing through the inner ear. After these operations, he became convinced that hearing was fundamental to normal bat flight, upon which he noted:

Bibliography

General

  • Paul de Kruif, Microbe Hunters (2002 reprint) ;
  • Nordenskiöld, E. P. 1935 [Spallanzani, L.] Hist. of Biol. 247–248
  • Rostand, J. 1997, Lazzaro Spallanzani e le origini della biologia sperimentale, Torino, Einaudi.

Work on insects

  • Gibelli, V. 1971 L. Spallanzani. Pavia.
  • Lhoste, J. 1987 Les entomologistes français. 1750–1950. INRA (Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique), Paris.
  • Osborn, H. 1946 Fragments of Entomological History Including Some Personal Recollections of Men and Events. Columbus, Ohio, Published by the Author.
  • Osborn, H. 1952 A Brief History of Entomology Including Time of Demosthenes and Aristotle to Modern Times with over Five Hundred Portraits.Columbus, Ohio, The Spahr & Glenn Company.
  • Page describing, with pictures, some of Lazzaro Spallanzani's memories
  • Museum of Lazzaro Spallanzani in Pavia
  • Official site of "Centro Studi Lazzaro Spallanzani" (Scandiano)
  • Zoologica Göttingen State and University Library Digitised Viaggi alle due Sicilie e in alcune parti dell'Appennino
  • Guide to the Lazzaro Spallanzani Papers 1768-1793 at the University of Chicago Special Collections Research Center