Bartolomeo Bizio (30 October 1791 - 27 September 1862) was an Italian chemist and a pioneer of microbiology who examined bloody spots on polenta and recognized them as being caused by a microorganism that he named as ''

Serratia ''Serratia'' is a genus of Gram-negative, facultatively anaerobic, rod-shaped bacteria of the family Yersiniaceae. According to the List of Prokaryotic names with Standing Nomenclature (LPSN), there are currently 19 species of ''Serratia'' that ar ...

'' after the Florentine physicist

Serafino Serrati Serafino Serrati (18th-century) was an Italians, Italian Benedictine order, Benedictine monk, who also practiced or taught physical sciences. He appears to have lived in the Badia Fiorentina (Florentine Abbey of monks of the order of Monte Cassino). ...

. Bizio was the son of tailor Giovanni Bizio and Paolina née Zampieroni born in Costozza di Longare, Venice who grew up in

Padua Padua ( ; it, Padova ; vec, Pàdova) is a city and ''comune'' in Veneto, northern Italy. Padua is on the river Bacchiglione, west of Venice. It is the capital of the province of Padua. It is also the economic and communications hub of the ...

working as a tailor. He was educated in Padua and around 1809 he worked at the Zanichelli pharmacy. He suffered from eye strain and later became a physics teacher after meeting Abbot Cicuto. He then trained at the University to become a pharmacist in 1820. Around 1819 he examined the phenomenon of "bloody polenta", initially claimed to be a miracle, and examined the cause of the red spots on corn meal and other starchy foods. He identified the cause as being an organism. He identified that the seeds of the microscopic organism were present in the air by showing that spots appeared on a piece of

polenta Polenta (, ) is a dish of boiled cornmeal that was historically made from other grains. The dish comes from Italy. It may be served as a hot porridge, or it may be allowed to cool and solidify into a loaf that can be baked, fried, or grilled. ...

kept in a warm and moist place. He ruled out through experiment the possibility that he may have inoculated the spores through his hands. He noted that the red pigment quickly faded and so gave it the species name ''marcescens'' meaning "to decay" in Latin. Bizio published his results in the local ''Gazzetta privilegiata'' and also wrote about his studies to

Angelo Bellani Angelo Bellani (1776 - 1852) was an Italian priest who also took an interest in physics and is best known for his work in the measurement of temperature and humidity using instruments and his inventions included a temperature recording thermograph. ...

. Bizio later examined the purple colour of ''

Murex trunculus ''Hexaplex trunculus'' (previously known as ''Murex trunculus'', ''Phyllonotus trunculus'', or the banded dye-murex) is a medium-sized sea snail, a marine (ocean), marine gastropod mollusk in the family Muricidae, the murex shells or rock snails ...

'' and ''

Murex brandaris ''Bolinus brandaris'' (originally called ''Murex brandaris'' by Linnaeus and also Haustellum brandaris), and commonly known as the purple dye murex or the spiny dye-murex, is a species of medium-sized predatory sea snail, an edible marine gastr ...

'' and identified that they were secreted by a gland and that the liquid became purple after coming in contact with air. He also examined the chemical composition of the molluscs and determined that they contained significant amounts of copper. He came up with ideas on chemical reactions based on analogies with gravitational force.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bizio, Bartolomeo 1791 births 1862 deaths Italian microbiologists