BIOLOGIST

Lazzaro Spallanzani

1729 - 1799

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Lazzaro Spallanzani (Italian pronunciation: [ˈladdzaro spallanˈtsaːni]; 12 January 1729 – 11 February 1799) was an Italian Catholic priest (for which he was nicknamed Abbé Spallanzani), biologist and physiologist who made important contributions to the experimental study of bodily functions, animal reproduction, and animal echolocation. His research on biogenesis paved the way for the downfall of the theory of spontaneous generation, a prevailing idea at the time that organisms develop from inanimate matters, though the final death blow to the idea was dealt by French scientist Louis Pasteur a century later. His most important works were summed up in his book Experiencias Para Servir a La Historia de La Generación De Animales y Plantas (Experiences to Serve to the History of the Generation of Animals and Plants), published in 1786. Read more on Wikipedia

Since 2007, the English Wikipedia page of Lazzaro Spallanzani has received more than 495,983 page views. His biography is available in 42 different languages on Wikipedia (up from 39 in 2019). Lazzaro Spallanzani is the 40th most popular biologist (down from 37th in 2019), the 631st most popular biography from Italy (down from 599th in 2019) and the most popular Italian Biologist.

Lazzaro Spallanzani is most famous for his work in the field of reproductive biology. He is credited with discovering the role of seminal fluid in reproduction.

Memorability Metrics

  • 500k

    Page Views (PV)

  • 66.79

    Historical Popularity Index (HPI)

  • 42

    Languages Editions (L)

  • 7.57

    Effective Languages (L*)

  • 2.75

    Coefficient of Variation (CV)

Among BIOLOGISTS

Among biologists, Lazzaro Spallanzani ranks 40 out of 1,097. Before him are Charles Richet, Matthias Jakob Schleiden, Harald zur Hausen, Dian Fossey, Karl von Frisch, and Antoine Laurent de Jussieu. After him are Vladimir Vernadsky, Karl Ernst von Baer, Françoise Barré-Sinoussi, Christian de Duve, Hans Spemann, and Peter Simon Pallas.

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Contemporaries

Among people born in 1729, Lazzaro Spallanzani ranks 6. Before him are Catherine the Great, Louis, Dauphin of France, Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, Edmund Burke, and Moses Mendelssohn. After him are Louis Antoine de Bougainville, Juliana Maria of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, Maria Antonia Ferdinanda of Spain, Antonio Soler, Johann Daniel Titius, and Johann Reinhold Forster. Among people deceased in 1799, Lazzaro Spallanzani ranks 8. Before him are Qianlong Emperor, Pope Pius VI, Maria Gaetana Agnesi, Pierre Beaumarchais, Tipu Sultan, and Joseph Black. After him are Georg Christoph Lichtenberg, Horace Bénédict de Saussure, Victoire of France, Heshen, Charles Theodore, Elector of Bavaria, and Étienne-Louis Boullée.

Others Born in 1729

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Others Deceased in 1799

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In Italy

Among people born in Italy, Lazzaro Spallanzani ranks 631 out of 5,161. Before him are Baldassare Castiglione (1478), Vittorio Emanuele Orlando (1860), Pope Stephen II (715), Fra Bartolomeo (1472), Kurt Schuschnigg (1897), and Virna Lisi (1936). After him are Tancred, Prince of Galilee (1072), Silvana Mangano (1930), Giuliano de' Medici, Duke of Nemours (1479), Pope Boniface II (470), Libius Severus (420), and Marozia (890).

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Among BIOLOGISTS In Italy

Among biologists born in Italy, Lazzaro Spallanzani ranks 1. After him are Ulisse Aldrovandi (1522), Gabriele Falloppio (1523), Giovanni Sartori (1924), Mario Capecchi (1937), Salvador Luria (1912), Renato Dulbecco (1914), Giuseppe Acerbi (1773), Mikhail Tsvet (1872), Luigi Luca Cavalli-Sforza (1922), Carlo Allioni (1728), and Odoardo Beccari (1843).

Italian born Biologists

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