Francesco Redi was an Italian physician, naturalist, biologist, and poet.
23 Facts About Francesco Redi
2.
Francesco Redi is referred to as the "founder of experimental biology", and as the "father of modern parasitology".
3.
Francesco Redi was the first person to challenge the theory of spontaneous generation by demonstrating that maggots come from eggs of flies.
4.
Francesco Redi disproved that vipers drink wine and could break glasses, and that their venom was poisonous when ingested.
5.
Francesco Redi correctly observed that snake venoms were produced from the fangs, not the gallbladder, as was believed.
6.
Francesco Redi was the first to recognize and correctly describe details of about 180 parasites, including Fasciola hepatica and Ascaris lumbricoides.
7.
Francesco Redi distinguished earthworms from helminths.
8.
Francesco Redi possibly originated the use of the control, the basis of experimental design in modern biology.
9.
Francesco Redi constantly moved, to Rome, Naples, Bologna, Padua, and Venice, and finally settled in Florence in 1648.
10.
Francesco Redi was a member of the Accademia del Cimento from 1657 to 1667.
11.
In 1664 Redi wrote his first monumental work Osservazioni intorno alle vipere to his friend Lorenzo Magalotti, secretary of the Accademia del Cimento.
12.
Francesco Redi explained rather how snake venom is unrelated to the snake's bite, an idea contrary to popular belief.
13.
Francesco Redi performed a series of experiments on the effects of snakebites, and demonstrated that venom was poisonous only when it enters the bloodstream via a bite, and that the fang contains venom in the form of yellow fluid.
14.
Francesco Redi even showed that by applying a tight ligature before the wound, the passage of venom into the heart could be prevented.
15.
Francesco Redi is best known for his series of experiments, published in 1668 as Esperienze intorno alla generazione degl'insetti, which is regarded as his masterpiece and a milestone in the history of modern science.
16.
Francesco Redi took six jars and divided them into two groups of three: In one experiment, in the first jar of each group, he put an unknown object; in the second, a dead fish; in the last, a raw chunk of veal.
17.
Francesco Redi covered the tops of the first group of jars with fine gauze so that only air could get into it.
18.
Francesco Redi continued his experiments by capturing the maggots and waiting for them to metamorphose, which they did, becoming flies.
19.
Francesco Redi was the first to describe ectoparasites in his Esperienze intorno alla generazione degl'insetti.
20.
Francesco Redi was admitted to two literary societies: the Academy of Arcadia and the Accademia della Crusca.
21.
Francesco Redi was an active member of Crusca and supported the preparation of the Tuscan dictionary.
22.
Francesco Redi taught the Tuscan language as a lettore pubblico di lingua toscana in Florence in 1666.
23.
Francesco Redi composed many other literary works, including his Letters, and Arianna Inferma.