Jacopo Bartolomeo Beccari

Doctor of Medicine Jacopo Bartolomeo Beccari FRS
Born	(1682-07-25)25 July 1682 Bologna, Papal States
Died	18 January 1766(1766-01-18) (aged 83) Bologna, Papal States
Resting place	Madonna del Baraccano, Bologna
Nationality	Bolognese
Occupations	Chemist Physician
Known for	Discovery of gluten
Parent(s)	Romeo Beccari and Flaminia Vittoria Beccari (née Maccarini)
Academic background
Alma mater	University of Bologna
Influences	Marcello Malpighi Giovanni Battista Morgagni
Academic work
Institutions	University of Bologna
Notable students	Giovanni Battista Borsieri Marco Carburi Luigi Galvani

Jacopo Bartolomeo Beccari FRS (25 July 1682 – 18 January 1766) was an Italian chemist, one of the leading scientists in Bologna in the first half of the eighteenth century. He is mainly known as the discoverer of the gluten in wheat flour. Beccari was the first to give courses in chemistry at an Italian university. He is considered a forerunner of food science and bromatological chemistry.

Life

Early life and education

Jacopo Bartolomeo Beccari was born in Bologna on 25 July 1682. After attending the Jesuit College, he graduated Doctor of Philosophy and Medicine at the University of Bologna in 1704. That same year he became member of the Accademia degli Inquieti created by Eustachio Manfredi in 1690. In 1712, he was appointed Professor of Theoretical Medicine at the University of Bologna.

Career

At the end of 1711, Luigi Ferdinando Marsili established the Institute and Academy of Sciences of the Institute of Bologna. Beccari was named head of the Natural Sciences Department and chair of Experimental Physics.

In 1724, Beccari was elected President of the Academy of Sciences of Bologna, a position took also in 1735, 1740 and 1750. In 1728, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society. In 1737, he was named Professor of Chemistry at the University of Bologna. One of his dsciples was Luigi Galvani.

After 40 years of teaching, in 1749, Beccari was named Emeritus Professor. He died in Bologna on 18 January 1766, and was buried in the Sanctuary of the Madonna del Baraccano.

Scientific work

Besides teaching, he carried out a wide scientific activity, mainly in disciplines related to medicine, such as physiology, pathology and food science. He carried out important research on the phosphorescence of bodies, and studied the measurement of the intensity of the light emitted (De rebus aliisque adamant in phosphorum numerum referendis, 1745). In 1745, he discovered that silver salts are photosensitive, undergoing color change on exposure to light.

From his comments on foraminifera he is considered as one of the pioneers of microbiology. Beccari was also the first scientist to have ever described a microfossil species. His papers on fossil foraminifera provide evidence for the first micropaleontological analyses, including a deep investigation of the dominant species of the assemblage, and also a rigorous approach to the description of the materials, methods and interpretation.

Beccari is best known for the discovery of the gluten in wheat flour. In his article De frumento ("concerning corn or grain"), published in the Transactions of the Academy of Bologna in 1745, Beccari described the separation of flour into two components, "amylaceum" (starch), which was soluble in water and had properties similar to those of sugars, and "glutinosum," which was insoluble and sticky and resembled substances of animal origin.

Beccari also performed studies in other fields, such as hydrology, meteorology and physics. In recognition of his pioneering studies on micropaleontology, Linnaeus dedicated the most common and widespread species of his microscopic Nautilus (later Ammonia) to him.

Works

• De Bononiensi arena quadam, in De Bononiensi scientiarum et artium Instituto atque Academia Commentarii, 1731, T. I, pp. 62-70;
• De Lapide Bononiensi, ibid., T. I., pp. 181-205;
• De motu intestino corporum fluidorum, ibid., T. I, pp. 483-496;
• Lettera al Cav. Tommaso Derham intorno la meteora chiamata "foco fatuo", in Saggio delle transazioni filosofiche della Società Regia dall'anno 1720 fino a tutto l'anno 1730, tradotta da T. Derham, Napoli 1734;
• Parere intorno al taglio della macchia di Viareggio, Lucca 1739;
• De juribus variis, in De Bononiensi scientiarum et artium Instituto atque Academia Commentarii, 1745, T. II, pp. 95-108;
• De corporum dissolutionibus, ibid., T. II, pp. 112-117;
• "De frumento". De Bononiensi scientiarum et artium instituto atque academia commentarii (PDF). Tomi secundi, Pars prima. 1745. pp. 122–127.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
• De morbis quibusdam popularibus, ibid., T. II, pp. 219 s.;
• De longa cibi potusque omnis abstinentia, ibid., T. II, pp. 221-235;
• De luce dactylorum, ibid, T. II, pp. 248-273;
• De adamante aliisque rebus in phosphororum numerum referendis, ibid., T. II, pp. 274-303;
• De quamplurimis phosphoris nunc primum detectis commentarius, in De Bononiensi scientiarum et artium Instituto atque Academia Commentarii, 1747, T. II, pp. 136-179;
• De Bononiensi constitutione hyemali anni 1729/30 in Acta physico-medica Academiae Naturae Curiosorum, 1752, T. III, pp. 142-152;
• De qualitatibus quibusdam, quae phosphororum luci obstant, in De Bononiensi scientiarum et artium Instituto atque Academia Commentarii, 1755, T. III, pp. 105-113;
• De medicatis recobarii aquis, ibid., T- III, pp. 374-405;
• De vi, quam ipsa per se lux habet, non colores modo, sed etiam texturam rerum, salvis interdum coloribus, immutandi, in De Bononiensi scientiarum et artium Instituto atque Academia Commentarii, 1757, T. IV, pp. 74-87;
• De lacte, ibid., 1767, T. V, pp. 1-56;
• Consulta medica, Tipografia San Tommaso D'Aquino, Bologna 1777-1781, 3 voll.

References

Citations

Sources

• Scarselli, Flaminio (1766). Nelle solenni esequie del celebre filosofo e medico bolognese Giacomo Bartolomeo Beccari orazione. Bologna: della Volpe.
• "Storia Accademia delle Scienze dell'istituto di Bologna". Ministero per i Beni e le Attività Culturali. Archived from the original on 15 September 2007. Retrieved 15 January 2013.
• Dario Camuffo; Antonio della Valle; Chiara Bertolin; Elena Santorelli (2017). "Temperature observations in Bologna, Italy, from 1715 to 1815: a comparison with other contemporary series and an overview of three centuries of changing climate". Climatic Change. 142 (1–2): 7–22. doi:10.1007/s10584-017-1931-2. ISSN 0165-0009. S2CID 157885502.
• Dario Camuffo; Francesca Becherini; Antonio della Valle (2019). "The Beccari series of precipitation in Bologna, Italy, from 1723 to 1765". Climatic Change. 155 (3): 359–376. doi:10.1007/s10584-019-02482-x. ISSN 0165-0009. S2CID 198648131.
• Vaiani, Stefano Claudio; Vai, Gian Battista; Borsetti, Anna Maria; Sarti, Carlo (2019). "From Ammonites to Ammonia, a tale on the early history of micropaleontology by Jacopo Bartolomeo Beccari (1682–1766)". Micropaleontology. 65 (6): 551–560. JSTOR 27143617.
• Vaiani, Stefano Claudio; Vai, Gian Battista; Borsetti, Anna Maria (2019). "The lectotype of Ammonia beccarii (Linnaeus 1758) from Jacopo Bartolomeo Beccari's original samples". Micropaleontology. 65 (6): 561–566. JSTOR 27143618.

External links

• Crespi, Mario; Gaudiano, Aldo (1965). "Beccari, Iacopo Bartolomeo". Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani, Volume 7: Bartolucci–Bellotto (in Italian). Rome: Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana. ISBN 978-88-12-00032-6.