Animal electricity (Galvani)
Electricidad animal (Galvani)
- Date
- 1780-1791 · confidence high
- Place
- Bologna, Emilia-Romagna, Italy
- Credited to
- Luigi Galvani
- Field
- Matter & energy
What was discovered
Galvani observed that dissected frog legs twitch when touched with metals or hit by sparks, and proposed an 'animal electric fluid'. The dispute with Volta, who attributed it to the metals, led to the pile.
The experiments began around 1780; De viribus electricitatis in motu musculari appeared in 1791. We now know both men were partly right.
What it led to
- the voltaic pile, born of the controversy with Volta
- electrophysiology (Matteucci, Du Bois-Reymond)
- galvanism and the idea of electricity as a vital force