BIOLOGIST

Lazzaro Spallanzani

1729 - 1799

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Lazzaro Spallanzani (Italian pronunciation: [ˈladdzaro spallanˈtsaːni]; 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. Read more on Wikipedia

His biography is available in different languages on Wikipedia. Lazzaro Spallanzani is the 52nd most popular biologist (down from 40th in 2019), the 614th most popular biography from Italy (up from 631st in 2019) and the most popular Italian Biologist.

Lazzaro Spallanzani is most famous for his work in the field of reproductive biology. He is credited with discovering the role of seminal fluid in reproduction.

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Among BIOLOGISTS

Among biologists, Lazzaro Spallanzani ranks 52 out of 1,097. Before him are Harald zur Hausen, Santiago Ramón y Cajal, Nikolaas Tinbergen, Tomas Lindahl, Irwin Rose, and Charles Richet. After him are André Michel Lwoff, Karl Ernst von Baer, Françoise Barré-Sinoussi, François Jacob, Roger Guillemin, and Theodor Schwann.

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Contemporaries

Among people born in 1729, Lazzaro Spallanzani ranks 6. Before him are Catherine the Great, Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, Louis, Dauphin of France, Edmund Burke, and Moses Mendelssohn. After him are Louis Antoine de Bougainville, Juliana Maria of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, Maria Antonia Ferdinanda of Spain, Antonio Soler, Countess Maria Louise Albertine of Leiningen-Dagsburg-Falkenburg, and Johann Daniel Titius. Among people deceased in 1799, Lazzaro Spallanzani ranks 7. Before him are George Washington, Pope Pius VI, Qianlong Emperor, Maria Gaetana Agnesi, Pierre Beaumarchais, and Joseph Black. After him are Georg Christoph Lichtenberg, Horace Bénédict de Saussure, Tipu Sultan, Victoire of France, Heshen, and Charles Theodore, Elector of Bavaria.

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In Italy

Among people born in Italy, Lazzaro Spallanzani ranks 614 out of 5,161. Before him are Alexander Farnese, Duke of Parma (1545), Fausto Cercignani (1941), Anastasia of Sirmium (281), Pinturicchio (1454), Luca Signorelli (1450), and Hippasus (-600). After him are Dionysius I of Syracuse (-430), Julia the Elder (-39), Publius Clodius Pulcher (-90), Matilda of Tuscany (1046), Giovanni Borgia, 2nd Duke of Gandia (1474), and Theano (-600).

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Among BIOLOGISTS In Italy

Among biologists born in Italy, Lazzaro Spallanzani ranks 1. After him are Ulisse Aldrovandi (1522), Gabriele Falloppio (1523), Salvador Luria (1912), Renato Dulbecco (1914), Mario Capecchi (1937), Giovanni Sartori (1924), Mikhail Tsvet (1872), Odoardo Beccari (1843), Luigi Luca Cavalli-Sforza (1922), Carlo Allioni (1728), and Giuseppe Acerbi (1773).

Italian born Biologists

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