Pending the delivery of the Nobel Prize on 10 December, let's find out together what the Nobel Prizes were in Italy.
Since 1901 every year, on 10 December in Stockholm, the most prestigious and coveted award in the world is awarded: the Nobel Prize. It was established at the behest of Alfred Nobel, the Swedish chemist and inventor of dynamite, who died on December 10, 1896. Regretful of having invented an instrument of death, he decided to donate his money for a prize that would revalue it.
Camillo Golgi and the passion for medicine
Among the Italians, the first to be awarded the prize was Camillus Golgi. Doctor and scientist, he was one of the pioneers of research on human cells. R.he received the prestigious recognition for Medicine in 1906.
The awarding of the Nobel to Golgi on October 26 preceded that of Nobel Prize for Literature a Giosuè Carducci, communicated on November 15, 1906.
The passion for medicine had been passed on to Camillo by his father Alessandro, a doctor from Corteno, in the province of Brescia. The future scientist was born here on July 7, 1843. He accompanied his father during visits to the homes of the sick in the town and listened in secret to learn the secrets of the trade. So in 1865 he graduated in Medicine at the University of Pavia with a thesis dedicated to the study of mental illnesses.
He participated in the competition for primary surgeon of the Pie Case degli Incurabili in Abbiategrasso. He obtained permission to deal with pathological studies by studying human diseases through tissues and cells.
Golgi transformed the kitchen of his small apartment into a real laboratory for his experiments. The revolutionary technique called black reaction or Golgi method, it was a real breakthrough in the study of human cells. This allowed him to obtain the chair of Histology and General Pathology at the University of Pavia. He continued his studies in the Experimental Pathology laboratory of the University of Pavia.
His studies as a researcher ranged from nervous tissues to olfactory bulbs, from the cerebellum to the spinal cord. He also managed to study the malaria, scientifically demonstrating at what stage of the course of the disease the infected should be treated with quinine.
Camillo Golgi: from luminary of science to the first Italian to be awarded
In 1893 Golgi was appointed rector of the University of Pavia. He later received numerous appointments including Member of the Superior Council of Public Education in 1896. He was Municipal Councilor for Hygiene in 1897, Senator of the Kingdom in 1900.
On October 26, 1906 Golgi received the Nobel Prize which gave Italy pride.
