Giovanni Cosimo Bonomo

Giovanni Cosimo Bonomo (born November 30, 1666 in Livorno ; † January 13, 1696 in Florence ) was an Italian physician who discovered the itch mite as the cause of the skin disease scabies ("scabies") and personal physician to the Palatinate Electress Anna Maria Luisa de 'Medici .

Life

Bonomo was born in Livorno as the son of the French pharmacist Stefano Bonomo and his wife Barbara Boccacci. Because of the Leggi Livornine , the city in the Grand Duchy of Tuscany was considered particularly cosmopolitan and multicultural at the time. He studied at the University of Pisa , where he received his doctorate in philosophy and medicine on June 22, 1681. At the Collegio dei medici e degli speziali in Florence, he obtained his license to practice medicine as a freelance doctor on December 18, 1683. Among his examiners was Francesco Redi , who would soon become his greatest advocate. From 1684 to 1685 he accompanied an expedition against the Turks as a ship's doctor , during which a large number of diseases and infections were observed and during which he fell ill twice. After this episode he began a close collaboration with Diacinto Cestoni, a confidante of Redis, in the course of which he also turned to research into the clinical picture of scabies . After two years he was able to determine the cause of the infestation with grave mites . To do this, he took skin samples from people with itching problems and examined the samples under a microscope . He discovered “a creature that lived for a minute ... with six legs and a pointed head”, which he captured in a drawing. On June 20, 1687, Bonomo presented his theory of the cause of scabies through mite infestation in a letter to Redi. Based on this theory, Bonomo developed a therapy consisting of ointments, rinses and baths in which salts, mercury, vitriols and other aggressive and penetrating substances were used Use came. On July 18, 1687, Bonomo's findings were published in Florence in the writing Osservazioni intorno a 'pellicelli del corpo umano . In the sciences, the font initially had no positive effect, which is mainly attributed to a negative attitude by Giovanni Maria Lancisi and the cool reaction of Francesco Redi. After publication, Bonomo applied to various positions to no avail, despite ongoing support from Redi. In May 1690 he then hired himself as a ship's doctor on the S. Stefano , which sailed for Spain. In March 1691 he was finally chosen as personal physician to Anna Maria Luisa de 'Medici at the intercession of Redis. Thus he accompanied the daughter of the Grand Duke Cosimo III. de 'Medici , who married the Palatinate Elector Johann Wilhelm in Florence on April 29, 1691 , first to the Duchy of Palatinate-Neuburg , then in 1692 to Düsseldorf , the capital of the Duchies of Jülich-Berg , where he was supposed to monitor the Electress's expected pregnancy. He remained in constant correspondence with Redi, continued his research and prepared further publications. When a serious illness seized him, he traveled back to Florence, where he died on January 13, 1696.

Individual evidence

^ Hugo Weidenhaupt : Brief history of the city of Düsseldorf . Triltsch Verlag, Düsseldorf 1983, ninth revised edition, p. 63
↑ See also Diacinto Cestoni (Italian Wikipedia)
↑ Undated website in the stanford.edu portal about the history of research into scabies , accessed on September 16, 2012
↑ In the 18th century Carl von Linné included the creatures discovered by Bonomo as sarcoptes in his systematics .
^ Giovanni Cosimo Bonomo: Osservazioni intorno a pellicelli del corpo umano. Firenze 1687. Digitized
↑ 1805 carried out Joseph Adams self-experiments with scabies infections. At the same time, the doctor Jean-Louis Alibert and his student Jean Chrysanthe Gale were able to prove that the grave mites can be removed from a patient suffering from scabies. However, scientists long doubted Bonomo's theory that grave mites were the cause of scabies. It was not until the 1860s that Bonomo's declaration became generally accepted.
^ Giorgio Stabile: Giovanni Cosimo Bonomo . Personal article in Italian in the Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani - Volume 12 (1971) , published on the portal treccani.it , accessed on September 16, 2012

Web links

Commons : Giovanni Cosimo Bonomo - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Giovanni Cosimo Bonomo , personal article by Giorgio Stabile in the Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani (Volume 12, 1971)

Osservazioni intorno a 'pellicelli del corpo umano , Florence 1687 (in Italian, with illustrations)

personal data
SURNAME	Bonomo, Giovanni Cosimo
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Italian medic
DATE OF BIRTH	November 30, 1666
PLACE OF BIRTH	Livorno
DATE OF DEATH	January 13, 1696
Place of death	Florence

[1] Hugo Weidenhaupt : Brief history of the city of Düsseldorf . Triltsch Verlag, Düsseldorf 1983, ninth revised edition, p. 63

[2] See also Diacinto Cestoni (Italian Wikipedia)

[3] Undated website in the stanford.edu portal about the history of research into scabies , accessed on September 16, 2012

[4] In the 18th century Carl von Linné included the creatures discovered by Bonomo as sarcoptes in his systematics .

[5] Giovanni Cosimo Bonomo: Osservazioni intorno a pellicelli del corpo umano. Firenze 1687. Digitized

[6] 1805 carried out Joseph Adams self-experiments with scabies infections. At the same time, the doctor Jean-Louis Alibert and his student Jean Chrysanthe Gale were able to prove that the grave mites can be removed from a patient suffering from scabies. However, scientists long doubted Bonomo's theory that grave mites were the cause of scabies. It was not until the 1860s that Bonomo's declaration became generally accepted.

[7] Giorgio Stabile: Giovanni Cosimo Bonomo . Personal article in Italian in the Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani - Volume 12 (1971) , published on the portal treccani.it , accessed on September 16, 2012