Electric fishes research in the nineteenth century, following the steps of Carlo Matteucci and Giuseppe Moruzzi

Abstract

The history of the research on electric fish and animal electricity is briefly reviewed. In 1964, Giuseppe Moruzzi published an important article on Carlo Matteucci, who made fundamental contributions to these fields. Studies of electric fish played an important role in the birth of modern electrophysiology, largely through the research of Luigi Galvani. They also contributed to Alessandro Volta’s invention of the electric battery. Electric fishes were widely studied by physiologists, physicists and zoologists in the nineteenth century.