Pacchioni, Antonio

1. Dates

Born: Reggio Emilia, 13 June 1665 (some sources say 1663 or 1664).

Died: Roma, 5 Nov. 1726

Dateinfo: Birth Uncertain

Lifespan: 61

2. Father

Occupation: Unknown

We are told only that Giambattista Pacchioni was a citizen of Reggio Emilia.

No information about the family's financial status.

3. Nationality

Birth: Italian

Career: Italian

Death: Italian

4. Education

Schooling: Reggio, MD, PD

He studied in his native town, Reggio Emilia, and obtained both his M.D. and Ph.D. (in a familiar Italian pattern) in 1688.

After 1689 he studied with (or perhaps worked with) Malpighi in Rome.

5. Religion

Affiliation: Catholic

6. Scientific Disciplines

Primary: Anatomy

Among Pacchioni's dissertations, from 1701 on, dealing with the structure and functions of the dura mater, the Dissertatio epistolaris de glandulis conglobatis durae meningis humanae (1705) is paticularly well known and contains his description of the arachnoidal, or so-called Pacchioni, granulations.

7. Means of Support

Primary: Medicine, Government

1689, attended the Santo Spirito hospital in Rome.

1690-3, assistant physician at the Ospedale della Consolazione.

1693-9, town doctor in Tivoli. (Note that this was a salaried position.)

In 1699 he moved to Rome and established a successful medical practice. Later he became head doctor at the Hospital of San Giovanni in Laterano and then at the Ospedale della Consolazione. He was also the physician to the Collegio Romano.

8. Patronage

Type: Scientist

It seems clear that Lancisi, who was ten years older and very well established in Rome, functioned as Pacchioni's mentor or patron. He is mentioned in connection with the move back from Tivoli and the appointments to the hospitals in Rome. Pacchioni dedicated De dura meningis fabrica, 1710, to Lancisi.

Pacchioni also dedicated Dissertatio epistolaris de glandulis, 1705, to the President of the Accademia de' Curiosi (the Italian sources give the name in Italian), of which Pacchioni was a member.

9. Technological Involvement

Type: Medical Practice

10. Scientific Societies

Memberships: Medical College, Institute Bologna, Academia Leopoldina

He was guided in anatomy by Malpighi when the latter lived in Rome from 1691 to 1694.

He collaborated with Lancisi on the explanatory text to Eustachi's Tabulae anatomicae (1714).

With Lancisi he corresponded with Morgagni.

Pacchioni was received into the Medical College of Reggio in 1697, even though he was then resident in Rome.

He was taken into the Academy of Bologna (the Institute) and into the Curiosi della natura (as the Italian sources' name for the Leopoldina).

Sources

1. Enrico Benassi, "Carteggi inediti fra il Lancisi, il Pacchioni ed il Morgagni," Rivista di storia delle scienze mediche e naturali, 23 (1932), 145-69.
2. A. Hirsch, Biographisches Lexikon der hervorragenden Aerzte aller Zeiten und Voelker (3rd ed., Munich, 1962), 4, 486.
3. Pietro Capparoni, "Lo stato di servizio di Antonio Pacchioni all'Ospedale della Consolazione in Roma ed un suo medaglione onorario," Rivista di storia delle scienze mediche e naturali, 5 (1914), 241-5.
4. Girolamo Tiraboschi, Biblioteca modenese, 3 (Modena, 1783), 415- 19.

Not Available and Not Consulted

1. Jacoppo Chiappelli, "Notizie intorno alla vita di Antonio Pacchioni da Reggio," in Raccolta d'opuscoli scientifici e filologici, 3 (1730), 79-102.
2. Maria Bertolani del Rio, "Antonio Pacchioni 1665-1726," in Luigi Barchi, ed., Medici naturalisti Reggiani, (Reggio Emilia, 1935), 659-67.

Compiled by:

Richard S. Westfall

Department of History and Philosophy of Science

Indiana University

Note: the creators of the Galileo Project and this catalogue cannot answer email on geneological questions.