Giovanni Battista Grassi

Giovanni Battista Grassi ( born March 27, 1854 in Rovellasca, Como Province, † May 10, 1925 in Rome ) was an Italian zoologist and anatomist.

Grassi was from 1883 professor of zoology and comparative anatomy in Catania and from 1896 at Rome. He was from 1897, member of the " Accademia dei Lincei " and since 1908 Senator of the Kingdom of Italy.

In 1896, he discovered the Straits of Messina developmental stages of young eels, which later led to the problem of eel migration. Grassi discovered in 1898 with its employees Amico Bignami ( 1882-1929 ) and Giuseppe Bastianelli ( 1862 to 1959 ) that only the mosquitoes of the genus Anopheles transmit malaria and related human in 1900 as the first author's name Anophelinae for the mosquito subfamily of Anopheles relatives.

In 1896 he was awarded the Darwin Medal of the Royal Society.