Francesco Redi was an Italian physician, naturalist, and poet. He was the first scientist to challenge
the theory of spontaneous generation by demonstrating that maggots come from eggs of flies. He was
also the first to recognize and correctly describe details of many important parasites,
and for this reason, as many historians and scientists claim, he may rightly be called
the father of modern parasitology, and also regarded as the founder of experimental biology.
Biography The son of Gregorio Redi and Cecilia de Ghinci
was born in Arezzo on February 18, 1626. His father was a renowned physician at Florence.
After schooling with the Jesuits, he attended the University of Pisa from where he obtained
his doctoral degrees in medical and philosophy in 1647, at the age of 21. He constantly moved
to Rome, Naples, Bologna, Padua, and Venice, and finally settled in Florence in 1648. Here
he was registered at the Collegio Medico where he served at the Medici Court as both the
head physician and superintendent of the ducal apothecary to Ferdinando II de' Medici, Grand
Duke of Tuscany and his successor, Cosimo III. It is here that most of his academic
works were achieved, which earned him membership in Accademia dei Lincei. He was also a member
of the Accademia del Cimento from 1657 to 1667.
He died in his sleep on March 1, 1697, in Pisa and his remains were returned to Arezzo
for interment. A collection of his letters is held at the
National Library of Medicine in Bethesda, Maryland.
Scientific career Experimental toxinology
In 1664 Redi wrote his first monumental work Osservazioni intorno alle vipere to his friend
Lorenzo Magalotti, secretary of the Accademia del Cimento. In this he began to break the
prevailing scientific myths such as vipers drink wine and shatter glasses, the venom
is poisonous if swallowed, head of dead viper is an antidote, the viper venom is produced
from the gallbladder, and so on. He explained rather how snake venom is unrelated to the
snake’s bite, an idea contrary to popular belief. He 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.
He even showed that by tight ligature before the wound the passage of venom into the heart
could be prevented. This work marked the beginning of experimental toxinology/toxicology.
Entomology and spontaneous generation
Redi is most well 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. The book is one of the first steps in refuting "spontaneous
generation" - a theory also known as Aristotelian abiogenesis. At the time, prevailing wisdom
was that maggots arose spontaneously from rotting meat.
Redi took six jars and divided in 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. Redi covered the tops of the first group jars with fine gauze so that
only air could get into it. He left the other group open. After several days, he saw maggots
appear on the objects in the open jars, on which flies had been able to land, but not
in the gauze-covered jars. In the second experiment, meat was kept in three jars. One of the jars
was uncovered, and two of the jars were covered, one with cork and the other one with gauze.
Flies could only enter the uncovered jar, and in this, maggots appeared. In the jar
that was covered with gauze, maggots appeared on the gauze but did not survive.
He continued his experiments by capturing the maggots and waiting for them to metamorphose,
which they did, becoming flies. Also, when dead flies or maggots were put in sealed jars
with dead animals or veal, no maggots appeared, but when the same thing was done with living
flies, maggots did. Knowing full well the terrible fates of out-spoken scientists like
Giordano Bruno and Galileo Galilei, Redi was careful to express his new views in a manner
that would not contradict to theological tradition of the Church; hence, his interpretations
were always based on biblical passages, such as his famous adage: omne vivum ex vivo.
Parasitology Redi was the first to describe ectoparasites
in his Esperienze intorno alla generazione degli insetti. His notable illustrations in
the book are those relevant to ticks, including deer and tiger ticks; it also contains first
depiction of the larva of Cephenemyiinae, the nasal flies of deer, as well as the sheep
liver fluke. His next treatise in 1684 titled Osservazioni intorno agli animali viventi
che si trovano negli animali viventi recorded the descriptions and the illustrations of
more than 100 parasites. In it he also differentiates the earthworm and Ascaris lumbricoides, the
human roundworm. An important innovation from the book is his experiments in chemotherapy
in which he employed the "control"', the basis of experimental design in modern biological
research. Altogether he is known to describe some 180 species of parasites. Perhaps, his
most significant observation was that parasites produce eggs and develop from them, which
contradicts the prevailing opinion that they are produced spontaneously.
Literary career As a poet, Redi's best known work is the dithyramb,
Bacco in Toscana, which appeared posthumously, and is considered one of the best literary
works of the 17th century. His bacchanalian poem in praise of Tuscan wines is still read
in Italy today. He was admitted to two literary societies: the Academy of Arcadia and the
Accademia della Crusca. He was an active member of Crusca and supported the preparation of
the Tuscan dictionary. He taught the Tuscan language as a lettore publio di lingua toscana
in Florence in 1666. He also composed many other literary works, including his Letters,
and Arianna Inferma. Recognitions
A crater on Mars was named in his honour. The larval stage of parasitic fluke called
"redia" is named after Redi by another Italian zoologist, Filippo de Filippi, in 1837.
The Redi Award, the most prestigious award in toxinology, is given in his honour by the
International Society on Toxinology. The award is made at each World Congress of IST since
1967. A scientific journal Redia, an Italian journal
of zoology, is named in his honour, which was first published in 1903.
A European viper subspecies, Vipera aspis francisciredi Laurenti, 1768, is named in
his honour. See also
Parasitology List of craters on Mars: O-Z
References
Further reading Altieri Biagi, Maria Luisa. Lingua e cultura
di Francesco Redi, medico. Florence: L. S. Olschki. ASIN B00A30Z37W.
External links Francesco Redi entry in the Catholic Encyclopedia
Experiments on the Generation of Insects, translation of the 5th edition
Bacco in Toscana Francesco Redi at Princeton.edu
Biography at Katringale Biographical Website of Francesco Redi
Rediʼs Experiment Famous Scientists: Francisco Redi
Francisco Redi at the Galileo Project Francisco Redi at Ketterer Kunst
Francisco Redi at The Free Dictionary Francisco Redi at Infoplease
Spontaneous generation and Francesco Redi Galileo's Twin