Editing Carlo Matteucci

{{Short description|Italian politician and physicist (1811–1868)}}
{{More citations needed|date=October 2022}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name              = Carlo Matteucci
| image             = Carlo Matteucci.jpeg
| birth_date        = {{Birth date|1811|6|20|df=yes}}
| birth_place       = [[Forlì]], [[Papal States]]
| death_date        = {{Death date and age|1868|6|24|1811|6|20|df=yes}}
| death_place       = [[Livorno]], [[Tuscany]], [[Kingdom of Italy]]
| residence         = 
| citizenship       = 
| nationality       = Italian
| ethnicity         = 
| field             = [[Physics]]<br>[[Neurophysiology]]
| work_institutions = [[University of Pisa]]
| alma_mater        = {{Nowrap|[[University of Bologna]] (PhD) (1829)}}
| doctoral_advisor  = 
| doctoral_students = 
| known_for         = [[Matteucci effect]]
| influences        = 
| influenced        = 
| prizes            = [[Copley Medal]] (1844)
| religion          = 
}}

'''Carlo Matteucci''' (20 June 1811 – 24 June 1868)<ref>{{Cite web |title=MATTEUCCI, Carlo - Enciclopedia |url=https://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/carlo-matteucci_(Dizionario-Biografico)/ |access-date=2024-07-21 |website=Treccani |language=it}}</ref> was an Italian [[physicist]] and [[neurophysiology|neurophysiologist]] who was a pioneer in the study of [[bioelectricity]].

== Biography ==
Carlo Matteucci was born at [[Forlì]], in the province of [[Romagna]], to Vincenzo Matteucci, a physician, and Chiara Folfi. He studied mathematics at the [[University of Bologna]] from 1825 to 1828, receiving his doctorate in 1829.<ref>{{CathEncy|wstitle=Carlo Matteucci}}</ref> From 1829 to 1831, he studied at the [[École Polytechnique]] in Paris, France. Upon returning to Italy, Matteucci studied at [[Bologna]] (1832), [[Florence]], [[Ravenna]] (1837) and [[Pisa]]. He established himself as the head of the laboratory of the Hospital of Ravenna and became a professor of physics at the local college. In 1840, by recommendation of [[François Arago]] (1786–1853), his teacher at the École Polytechnique, to the Grand-Duke of [[Tuscany]], Matteucci accepted a post of professor of [[physics]] at the [[University of Pisa]].

Instigated by the work of [[Luigi Galvani]] (1737–1798) on bioelectricity, Matteucci began in 1830 a series of experiments which he pursued until his death in 1865. Using a sensitive [[galvanometer]] of [[Leopoldo Nobili]], he was able to prove that injured excitable biological tissues generated direct [[electrical current]]s, and that they could be summed up by adding elements in series, like in [[Alessandro Volta]]’s (1745-1827) [[voltaic pile|electric pile]]. Thus, Mateucci was able to develop what he called a "[[rheoscopic frog]]", by using the cut [[nerve]] of a frog's leg and its attached [[muscle]] as a kind of sensitive electricity detector. His work in bioelectricity influenced directly the research developed by [[Emil du Bois-Reymond]] (1818–1896), a student of the great German biologist [[Johannes Peter Müller]] (1801–1858) in Berlin, who tried the duplicate Matteucci's experiments and ended up discovering the nerve's [[action potential]]. In 1844, for these studies, Matteucci was awarded with the Copley medal by the [[Royal Society]].

From 1847, he took an active part in politics, and in 1860 was chosen an [[Italian Senate|Italian senator]], at the same time becoming inspector-general of the Italian [[telegraph]] lines. Two years later he was appointed Minister of Education.

Matteucci died in the Ardenza neighbourhood of [[Livorno]] in 1868.

== Works ==
[[File:Matteucci, Carlo – Lezioni di fisica, 1850 – BEIC 12041401.jpg|thumb|''Lezioni di fisica'', 1850]]
Matteucci was the author of four scientific treatises in physics:
* {{lang|it|Lezioni di fisica}} (2 vols., Pisa, 1841)
* {{lang|it|Lezioni sui fenomeni fisico-chimici dei corpi viventi}} (Pisa, 1844)
* {{lang|it|Manuale di telegrafia electrica}} (Pisa, 1850)
* {{lang|it|Cours spécial sur l'induction, le magnétisme de rotation}}, etc. (Paris, 1854).
* {{lang|it|Trattato dei fenomeni elettrofisiologici degli animali}} (1844) 
* {{Cite book |title=Lezioni di fisica |trans-title=Physics lessons |volume= |publisher=Pieraccini |location=Pisa |year=1850 |language=it |url=https://gutenberg.beic.it/webclient/DeliveryManager?pid=12041401}}
* {{lang|it|Corso di elettrofisiologia}} (1857)
* {{Cite book |title=Corso di elettro-fisiologia |trans-title=Course in Electro-physiology |volume= |publisher=Castellazzo e Vercellino |location=Torino |year=1861 |language=it |url=https://gutenberg.beic.it/webclient/DeliveryManager?pid=12396382}}

His numerous papers were published in the {{lang|fr|[[Annales de chimie et de physique]]}} (1829–1858); and most of them also appeared at the time in the Italian scientific journals. They relate almost entirely to electrical phenomena, such as the magnetic rotation of [[light]], the action of [[gas battery|gas batteries]], the effects of [[Torsion (mechanics)|torsion]] on [[magnetism]],<ref name="Matteucci">{{cite journal |last=Matteucci |first=C. |title=Recherches expérimentales sur les phénomènes électromagnétiques développés par la torsion |language=fr |trans-title=Experimental research on electromagnetic phenomena developed by torsion |journal=Annales de Chimie et de Physique |volume=53 |number=385 |year=1858}}</ref> the [[electric polarization]] of [[electrode]]s, etc., sufficiently complete accounts of which are given in [[Gustav Heinrich Wiedemann|Wiedemann]]'s {{lang|de|Galvanismus}}.

Nine memoirs, entitled ''Electro-Physiological Researches'', were published in the ''Philosophical Transactions'', 1845–1860. See Bianchi's {{lang|it|Carlo Matteucci e l’Italia del suo tempo}} (Rome, 1874).

== See also ==
* [[Matteucci effect]]
* [[Matteucci Medal]]
* [[Physical crystallography before X-rays#Electrical conduction|Physical crystallography before X-rays]]

== Bibliography ==
* Matteucci C., "Sur un phenomene physiologique produit par les muscles en contraction", ''Ann. Chim. Phys.'' 1842, 6, 339–341.

== References ==
{{reflist}}
* {{EB1911|wstitle=Matteucci, Carlo}}

== External links ==
* {{Commons category-inline}}

{{Copley Medallists 1801-1850}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Matteucci, Carlo}}
[[Category:1811 births]]
[[Category:1868 deaths]]
[[Category:Education ministers of Italy]]
[[Category:19th-century Italian physicists]]
[[Category:Italian neuroscientists]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Copley Medal]]
[[Category:People from Forlì]]
[[Category:Members of the Senate of the Kingdom of Sardinia]]
[[Category:University of Bologna alumni]]
[[Category:École Polytechnique alumni]]