Marcello Malpighi

Timeline

1. 1628–1659Bologna · BolognaBorn in Crevalcore, he studied philosophy and medicine in Bologna, receiving degrees in medicine and philosophy in 1653. In 1656, at the invitation of Ferdinando II of Tuscany, he became professor of theoretical medicine in Pisa, befriending the mathematician Giovanni Alfonso Borelli and beginning to examine blood and organs by experiment and microscope; he returned to Bologna in 1659 for family reasons.
2. 1661–1691Bologna · BolognaIn his 1661 letter to Borelli, De Pulmonibus (Observations on the Lungs), he reported seeing under the microscope a network of capillaries between arteries and veins and honeycomb-like alveoli in frog lungs, completing Harvey's theory of circulation. He went on to study the fine structures of skin, kidneys, spleen, insects, and plants; many tissues still bear the name "Malpighi." He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society around 1669, and his principal works were published by the Society. His observations used the Italian compound microscope tradition, running parallel to Leeuwenhoek's single-lens approach.
3. 1691–1694Rome · RomeIn 1691 he was summoned to Rome by Innocent XII to serve as papal physician. His health declined in his later years, and he died of a stroke in Rome on November 30, 1694. An autopsy was performed at his wish, and the Royal Society subsequently edited and published his posthumous papers. His remains were later reinterred in the church of San Gregorio e Siro in Bologna.