Spallanzani
Spallanzani was an Italian Catholic priest, biologist, and physiologist. He made contributions to the study of bodily functions, animal reproduction, as well as contributing to disproving the spontaneous generation. Born in Scadiano, Spallanzani was educated at a Jesuit college and started studying law at the University of Bologna. He quickly gave up his law studies for science. He studied mathematics and natural philosophy. He also studied ancient and modern languages for a brief time before giving that up. At 25 he became the professor of logic, metaphysics, and Greek at the University of Reggio. He was ordained a priest, but continued to work at the University. He devoted all of his free time to natural science. Many universities offered him jobs but he declined all of them until accepting an invitation to the chair of natural history at University of Pavia. in 1768 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society, which is a group of scientists and engineers who have contributed to improvement of natural knowledge. Also in 1775 he was elected a foreign member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. in 1785, due to competition of other Universities wanting him, His current place of work doubled his salary and gave him a paid year leave of absence to visit Turkey. He made many observations while there such as a copper mine in Chalki and an iron mine in Principi. He died from bladder cancer in 1799.