Felice Fontana (405)

Felice Fontana (15 April 1730–11 January 1805) was a naturalist, physiologist, priest, and a member of the American Philosophical Society, elected in 1783. Born in Pomarolo, near Trento, Italy, he studied at the Universities of Padua and Bologna before Emperor Francis I assigned him to fill the chairs of logic and physics at the University of Pisa in 1765 and 1766. Immediately thereafter he went to Florence where he took up the position of court Physician to the Grand Duke. During his time in Florence, he organized and expanded the collections at the Pitti palace: developing extremely accurate anatomical models which caught the attention of Emperor Joseph II, who thereby requested he make a set of models for the Academy of Surgeons in Vienna. In 1775, the Museum of Physics and Natural History in Florence opened, featuring his wax models. That fall, Fontana traveled to France and England, developing contacts with many of the most prominent scientists of his age. He also found himself briefly interned in France in 1799 by insurgents despite the sympathies he held for the revolution. Nevertheless, Fontana became well known for his work: notably his experiments on the human eye (1765), parasitic plants (1766), and on the poisonous effects of snake venom (1767, 1781). Many consider him the founder of modern toxicology. Fontana suffered an apoplexy and collapsed dead on a public street in Florence. He was buried at the church of Santa Croce, not far from Galileo’s place of rest.