PACINI,FILIPPO - A DETERMINED OBSERVER

The life of Filippo Pacini (1812-1883) and his major scientific achiev ements are outlined. Pacini drew attention to the corpuscles named aft er him in 1831,when he was a medical student, and had to struggle for many years to convince the scientific community of the reliability and importance of his findings. In 1849 Pacini became professor of anatom y at the University of Florence. Creative scientist, innovative teache r, well aware that the use of the microscope represented a revolutiona ry approach, Pacini pursued histological studies until his death. He a lso first discovered in 1854 (30 years before Robert Koch) the causati ve agent of cholera, and firmly believed that the disease was contagio us. Strong-willed, modest, and poor, Pacini received from his colleagu es more recognition in the obituaries than during his life.