Biography of Giulio Bizzozero and his scientific contributions and discoveries

Описание: Giulio Bizzozero (20 March 1846 – 8 April 1901) was an Italian doctor and medical researcher. He was a pioneer of histology and is credited with the coining of the term platelets and identifying their function in coagulation .

Bizzozero was born in Varese, Lombardy, Italy, and studied medicine at the University of Pavia, where he performed histological and histopathological research under the guidance of Paolo Mantegazza and the microscopist Eusebio Oehl. In 1866, he graduated from Pavia at the age of 20.

He then travelled and worked with Rudolf Virchow in Berlin and Heinrich Frey in Zurich. In 1867, he was chosen as the chief of general pathology and histology at the University of Pavia. This institute trained many important Italian researchers, such as Camillo Golgi. Among his significant work, Bizzozero was one of the pioneers of histology, and, more generally, the use of the microscope in medical research.

He also noted the value of blood transfusions in treating anemia and described platelets as a third element in blood after the erythrocytes and leucocytes. Platelets had been described by Max Schultze in 1865 but Bizzozero identified their function. He called them petit plaques (Italian), plaquettes (French) and Blutplattchenin (German). He demonstrated their role in clotting through aggregation and clumping with the formation of thread like structures now known as fibrin.

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