Luigi Galvani
Luigi Galvani (1737-98), Italian anatomist. He lectured in medicine at the University of Bologna and was appointed professor of anatomy there in 1775. In 1771 he noticed that the muscles of dissected frogs’ legs twitched not only in response to an electric current but also when in contact with two different metals. He thought that this was due to ‘animal electricity’ within the muscle itself, but was later proved wrong. In spite of, this, his name was used in associated terminology; the electricity generated between two metals was called galvanic electricity and an instrument invented in 1820 for detecting electric current was called a galvanometer.
