Felice Fontana
Felice Fontana ( born April 15, 1730 in Pomarolo, Trento; † March 9, 1805 in Florence ) was an Italian scientist.
Curriculum vitae
Gasparo Ferdinando Fontana Felice was born on 15 April 1730 in Pomarolo in Rovereto ( Trento ). He came from humble beginnings and was the third of nine siblings. He received minor orders. He studied in Verona, Parma, Bologna, Padua, Rome and Florence. His dissertation dealt with the irritability and sensitivity of the nerves in animals. Fontana was also a pupil of the historian Girolamo Tartarotti. In 1753 he became a member of the Accademia degli Roveretana Agiati. 1766 Fontana was appointed professor of physics at the University of Pisa. Fontana was in contact with the Swiss physician and botanist Albrecht von Haller (1708-1777) and held an extensive scientific correspondence. In 1775 he was appointed by the scientifically interested Grand Duke Leopold of Tuscany ( later Emperor Leopold II ) to the Director of the below-mentioned physical and natural history cabinet in Florence. After the opening of the museum Fontana traveled from autumn 1775 to January 1780 by France and England to experience the most famous scientists of his time. The scientific collections of the Medici were placed in this museum. He arranged the collection with the instruments of Galileo, the physicist and astronomer Evangelista Torricelli (1608-1647) and the employee Vincenzo Viviani Galileo (1622-1703), and let customize the mentioned anatomical wax figures. Were made by the sculptor Clemente Susini the preparations ( 1754-1814 ). When in 1799 the French occupied Tuscany, the researchers of collaboration was suspected, arrested and set free again by Napoleon. In gratitude he made wax figures who came to Montpellier in 1802. Abbé Fontana was one of the most versatile and significant anatomists and physiologists of the 18th century. He died on March 9, 1805 from a stroke and is buried in the church of Santa Croce, which also houses the tomb of Galileo is located in Florence.
Medical examinations
Fontana described a new channel in the eye. The discovery was named after him and called " Fontanasche spaces" ( Spatia anguli iridocornealis ) refers. These are the trabecular spaces between the fibers of the reticulum. He also examined the reflections of the pupils. Fontana explored the red blood cells, described the fangs of snakes and made experiments with snake poison. Fontana also dealt with the air and the breathing and found that plant leaves release oxygen in sunlight. 1781 described the researchers, the microscopic findings of the nerve fibers. He experimented with the arrow poison curare and observed that the injection remained in the sciatic nerve without toxic effects, but this ceased after intravenous administration. He used electric sparks as an irritant in animal experiments and discovered that the rotation disease of sheep produced by the bladder worm in the brain. Several of his works have been translated into French, English and German language.
Wax models
When Emperor Joseph II in 1780 his brother visited the Grand Duke Leopold of Tuscany ( Pietro Leopoldo di Lorena ), he saw the of this opened in Florence in 1775 Reale Museo di Fisica e Storia Naturale, which because of its observatory the name " La Specola " had received. There the Emperor admired the produced under the direction of Felice Fontana lifelike wax models of the human body: life-size figures depicting the muscles, ligaments and nerves. The monarch decided this collection for which he founded in Roman Imperial Josephinian Medicinische - Surgical Academy Vienna ( Josephinum ) to be produced again. Worked had the anatomist Paolo Mascagni and friend of Fontana ( 1755-1815 ). The Vienna wax models Collection is not a pure copy of the Florentine originals, since Mascagni earned his studies on the lymphatic system in the production of the Vienna preparations. This collection remained in modified equipment and installation by almost two centuries in its original condition and is adjacent to the library of the pride of the house.
The most extensive anatomical wax model collection in Florence is located in the Collezione Ceroplastica of the museum " La Specola ". Another collection of wax models Fontana - mainly obstetric - can be seen in the Museo di Storia della Scienza. In this museum several rooms with astronomical and physical devices are dedicated to Galileo Galilei.
Sibling
Felice's brother Giuseppe Fontana (1729-1788) was a noted science treating physician. The Istituto Tecnico Commerciale e per Geometri F. e G. Fontana in Rovereto was founded in 1855 and named after the first Austrian Empress Elisabeth Scuola real Elisa Bettina, in 1933 after Queen Elena and 1944 after the resignation of King Victor Emmanuel III. changed to the name of the two brothers.
His brother Gregorio Fontana (1735-1803) was a famous mathematician.