Shocking Frogs: Galvani, Volta, and the Electric Origins of Neuroscience 1st Edition by Marco Piccolino (PDF)

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“… and still we could never suppose that fortune were to be so friendly to us, such as to allow us to be perhaps the first in handling, as it were, the electricity concealed in nerves, in extracting it from nerves, and, in some way, in putting it under everyone’s eyes.” With these words, Luigi Galvani announced to the world in 1791 his discovery that nervous conduction and muscle excitation are electrical phenomena. The result of more than years of intense experimental work, Galvani’s milestone achievement concluded a thousand-year scientific search, in a field long dominated by the antiquated beliefs of classical science. Besides laying the grounds for the development of the modern neurosciences, Galvani’s discovery also brought to light an invention that would forever change humankind’s everyday life: the electric battery of Alessandro Volta. In an accessible style, written for specialists and general readers alike, Shocking Frogs retraces the steps of both scientific discoveries, starting with the initial hypotheses of the Enlightenment on the involvement of electricity in life processes. So doing, it also reveals the inconsistency of the many stereotypes that an uncritical cultural tradition has imparted to the legacies of Galvani and Volta, and proposes a decidedly new image of these monumental figures.

User’s Reviews

Editorial Reviews: Review This book has the really important merit of going deep into the problems, of retracing in an analytical way and with comprehensible language, a complex affair; it is an important contribution which, besides containing an accurate reconstruction of contexts and discussions, also includes two dense chapters on electrophysiology from the age of Galvani and on the present state of knowledge on nerve conduction and muscle excitability. Paolo Rossi, Il Sole 24 Ore Even though it is a rigorously scientific study, based on primary sources (most of them discovered by the authors – particularly in the case of Galvani), this book is read in a captivating way, as a history of human beings with their intelligences, passions, weaknesses. Often the taste for intellectual dramas, which are human dramas, is lost in the essays of science history; consequently, events that are rich of intelligence, passion and life, become arid passages in the cultural evolution of humanity. The book of Piccolino an Bresadola is a good antidote against this danger. Paolo Mazzarello, La StampaEven though structured in a way such a to make the controversy [between Galvani and Volta] as its set piece this book also offers engaging chapter for the period preceding the explosion of the debate… It will surely stimulate the interest of philosophers sensitive to the calls of contemporary neurosciences. This is because the last two chapters, devoted to the more recent history of neurosciences… provide a precious mine of information and data on the developments of this discipline. It is indeed on the basis of the acquisition of electrophysiology that neurobiological research has succeeded in obtaining very significant results, particularly in the study of nervous conduction.” Germana Pareti, Rivista di Filosofia, 2004″Piccolino and Bresadola offer a convincing case for incorporating our modern understanding of the physiology of action potentials into the analysis of the work of both Galvani and Volta. Shocking Frogs is thoroughly enjoyable and rich in detail. Indeed, it would add to anyone’s knowledge, including that of the expert historian.” –Cognitive and Behavioral Neurology About the Author Marco Piccolino was Professor of General Physiology and Lecturer in Science at the University of Ferrara until 2010. As a neurophysiologist, he has made important contributions to the study of retinal mechanisms involved in vision. His books on science history cover electrophysiology, vision, and Galileo.Marco Bresadola is an historian of science and director of the Master’s in Journalism and Science Communication at the University of Ferrara. He studies the history of early modern life sciences and medicine with a special focus on scientific practices and biographies.

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