In memory of Marcello Malpighi (1628-1694) -an outstanding doctor and scientist-innovator (on the 325-th anniversary of his death)

The paper presents the main scientific and practical achievements of the Italian doctor, anatomist and naturalist - Marcello Malpighi. The name of the scientist is associated with several physiological features - with the biological excretory system, such as the “Malpighian Corpuscles”,”Malpighian pyramids “of the kidneys, and the “Malpighian tubular system” of insects. Splenic lymphoid nodules are often called “Malpighian bodies of the spleen” or “Malpighian corpuscles”. he was the first person to study capillaries in animals, and he discovered a connection between arteries and veins that “eluded” William Harvey. it is noted that Malpighi was one of the first people to observe red blood cells under a microscope, after Jan Swammerdam. His treatise “de polypo cordis” (1666) was important for understanding the composition of blood, as well as how blood clots are formed. The use of a microscope allowed Malpighi to detect that invertebrates use small holes in their skin, called tracheae, rather than lungs for breathing. M. Malpighi also studied the anatomy of the brain and came to the conclusion that this organ is a gland. Since the scientist had extensive knowledge of biology in general, he contributed to the scientific study of plants and animals. The Royal society of London published two volumes of his Botanical and Zoological works in 1675 and 1679. In 1687, another edition was published, and in 1697, an additional volume. studying plants led him to conclude that plants have tubes similar to those he saw in insects such as silkworms (using his microscope, he probably saw stomata through which plants exchange carbon dioxide with oxygen). Malpighi noticed that when the annular part of the bark is removed from the trunk, a tumor occurs in the tissues above the ring, and he correctly interpreted this as growth stimulated by food coming from the leaves and blocked above the ring.

M. Malpighi, biography, Italian anatomist, biologist, Pisa period, University of Bologna, messianic period, kidney structure, Malpighian bodies, malpighian vessels, alveoli of the lungs