Background
Giovanni Battista Morgagni was born on February 25, 1682, in Forli. His parents were in comfortable circumstances, but not of the nobility.
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Giovanni Battista Morgagni
Giovanni Battista Morgagni was an Italian anatomist, generally regarded as the father of modern anatomical pathology, who taught thousands of medical students from many countries during his 56 years as Professor of Anatomy at the University of Padua.
Education
After completing his early studies at Forlì, in 1698 Giovanni Battista Morgagni went to Bologna, where he attended the university, taking the degree in philosophy and medicine in 1701.
His principal university teachers were Antonio Maria Valsalva and Ippolito Francesco Albertini, both former pupils of Malpighi, who trained him in Malpighi’s methods and in the rational medicine that follows from them.
Having received his degree, Morgagni remained in Bologna to work in the three hospitals of that city and carry out further anatomical studies with Valsalva.
Career
In 1706 Morgagni published the first volume of Adversaria anatomica, a collection of medical essays communicated to the Academia Inquietorum which established Morgagni in the scientific community. Later contributions were published from 1717 to 1719. In 1711 he was offered the assistant professorship of theoretical medicine at the University of Padua, a school noted for its brilliant achievements in anatomy for 2 centuries. Morgagni accepted the post in 1712 and in 1715 was elevated to the rank of professor of anatomy. He remained at Padua as a popular teacher, anatomist, and clinical consultant until his death on December 6, 1771.
In 1761, at the age of 79, Morgagni published his great work De sedibus et causis morborum per anatomen indagatis libri quinque (On the Seats and Causes of Disease, Anatomically Studied). For centuries physicians had been guided by the conviction that disease was always generalized throughout the whole body. Although pathological changes in organs had been noted before and although 17th-and early-18th-century anatomists recognized that such changes were sometimes related to the symptoms of specific diseases, De sedibus proved conclusively that this relationship was a valid one and demonstrated its full meaning.
Morgagni's work was based on years of careful observation and experiment, including over 600 postmortem examinations, in which he pinpointed pathological changes leading to death and showed the relationship with the symptoms of the illness preceding death.
He also recognized the role of the nervous system in making symptoms felt at a point distant from the seat of the disease and the possible influence of such external factors as weather, age, and occupation in causing pathological changes.
These achievements, plus his brilliant descriptions of pathological conditions, make Morgagni the founder of pathological anatomy, both as a distinct part of anatomical study and as a critical basis for understanding the cause of illness.
Achievements
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The Italian anatomist Giovanni Battista Morgagni was the founder of pathological anatomy and the first to demonstrate the relation between disease symptoms and pathological changes in organs. He also recognized the role of the nervous system in making symptoms felt at a point distant from the seat of the disease and the possible influence of such external factors as weather, age, and occupation in causing pathological changes. These achievements, plus his brilliant descriptions of pathological conditions, make Morgagni the founder of pathological anatomy, both as a distinct part of anatomical study and as a critical basis for understanding the cause of illness.
Works
Connections
Shortly after coming to Padua Giovanni Battista Morgagni was married to a lady of Forli, of noble parentage, who bore him three sons and twelve daughters.
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References
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Born
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Died
February 6, 1771 (aged 88) -
Nationality
Italy -
Religion
Catholic