Luigi Calori was an Italian physician who was Professor of Human Anatomy at the University of Bologna for over 50 years.
Life
Luigi Calori was born in San Pietro in Casale in 1807, son of Teresa Gibelli and Francesco Calori. His father was a country doctor. He first studied at the Jesuit college in Ferrara before going on the University of Bologna. He graduated on 7 July 1829 with a medical degree. During his years of study he met several exponents of Italian culture including Gioachino Rossini. He was appointed anatomical prosector at the university on 4 November 1830. He obtained a degree in Surgery on 4 April 1833. In 1835 he was appointed Professor of Pictorial Anatomy at the Academy of Fine Arts, Bologna, holding this position until 1845. On 19 October 1844 he was appointed Professor of Anatomy at the University of Bologna in succession to Professor Mondini. He held this position for 52 years until the day of his death in 1896. He was also Director of the anatomical museum of Bologna from 1850 to 1896, Dean of the Medical Faculty of Bologna in the years 1869-72 and 1882–85, Great Rector of the University of Bologna in 1876-77, honorary member and then several times President of the Academy of Sciences of Bologna Institute, and president of the Medical Surgery Society of Bologna in 1856 and 1888.
Work
Calori produced a great volume of scientific work. He was interested in many areas of anatomy including normal anatomy, pathological anatomy, teratology and comparative anatomy. He was assisted by Caesar Bettini. He was interested in anthropology, and wrote on differences in anatomy between natives of different parts of the world. He concluded from his examinations of the brains of Negroes that, although they were generally similar to those of Europeans, there was evidence that they were closer to the ape. In 1873 Bologna published at the city's expense his book Of the Races which have stocked the ancient Necropolis at the Certosa of Bologna, with 17 plates, in a limited edition of 62 copies to be distributed among the learned men of Europe. Calori left many valuable preserved specimens and models that fill the university's museums of normal anatomy, pathology and comparative anatomy. His collection of over two thousand skulls, dating from the Middle Ages to the contemporary era, is preserved in glass cases in the entrance corridor of the Institutes of Anatomy, in Via Irnerio 48.
