Michele Troja or Michele Troya (23 June 1747 – 12 April 1827) was an Italian

physician A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through th ...

Biography

Troja was born in

Andria Andria (; Barese: ) is a city and ''comune'' in Apulia ( southern Italy). It is an agricultural and service center, producing wine, olives and almonds. It is the fourth-largest municipality in the Apulia region (behind Bari, Taranto, and Fogg ...

. His family had intended him to become a clergyman. But since early childhood, he was highly interested in anything that resembled natural sciences. A. von Schoenberg, Biographie de Michel Troja, Dr et professeur in Thence he studied medicine in Naples where he received his doctorate. In 1774, he received a scholarship to follow postgraduate formation in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

where he carried on the research of

Henri-Louis Duhamel du Monceau Henri-Louis Duhamel du Monceau (20 July 1700, Paris13 August 1782, Paris), was a French physician, naval engineer and botanist. Biography Henri-Louis Duhamel du Monceau was born in Paris in 1700, the son of Alexandre Duhamel, lord of Denai ...

on the growth of bones catching the interest of

Lazzaro Spallanzani Lazzaro Spallanzani (; 12 January 1729 – 11 February 1799) was an Italian Catholic priest (for which he was nicknamed Abbé Spallanzani), biologist and physiologist who made important contributions to the experimental study of bodily function ...

. Corresponding member of the

French Academy of Sciences The French Academy of Sciences (French: ''Académie des sciences'') is a learned society, founded in 1666 by Louis XIV of France, Louis XIV at the suggestion of Jean-Baptiste Colbert, to encourage and protect the spirit of French Scientific me ...

, he wrote five articles for the

Diderot Denis Diderot (; ; 5 October 171331 July 1784) was a French philosopher, art critic, and writer, best known for serving as co-founder, chief editor, and contributor to the ''Encyclopédie'' along with Jean le Rond d'Alembert. He was a prominen ...

and

d’Alembert Jean-Baptiste le Rond d'Alembert (; ; 16 November 1717 – 29 October 1783) was a French mathematician, mechanician, physicist, philosopher, and music theorist. Until 1759 he was, together with Denis Diderot, a co-editor of the ''Encyclopédie ...

Encyclopédie ''Encyclopédie, ou dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers'' (English: ''Encyclopedia, or a Systematic Dictionary of the Sciences, Arts, and Crafts''), better known as ''Encyclopédie'', was a general encyclopedia publis ...

'' supplement. Back in Naples in 1779, he was appointed Head Surgeon of Neapolitan Hospital for Incurables then ophthalmology professor at the

University of Naples The University of Naples Federico II ( it, Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II) is a public university in Naples, Italy. Founded in 1224, it is the oldest public non-sectarian university in the world, and is now organized into 26 depar ...

. In 1780, he became First Surgeon of

Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies Ferdinand I (12 January 1751 – 4 January 1825) was the King of the Two Sicilies from 1816, after his restoration following victory in the Napoleonic Wars. Before that he had been, since 1759, Ferdinand IV of the Kingdom of Naples and Ferdinand I ...

, member of the King's Chamber, and he accompanied the king during his hunting journeys. There Troja performed dissections and worked on botany. He became closely associated with many famous men of his time:

Felice Fontana Abbé Gasparo Ferdinando Felice Fontana (15 April 1730 – 9 March 1805) was an Italian polymath who contributed to experimental studies in physiology, toxicology, and physics. As a physicist he discovered the water gas shift reaction in 1780. He ...

Albrecht von Haller Albrecht von Haller (also known as Albertus de Haller; 16 October 170812 December 1777) was a Swiss anatomist, physiologist, naturalist, encyclopedist, bibliographer and poet. A pupil of Herman Boerhaave, he is often referred to as "the fa ...

, Joseph Lieutaud,

Louis-Jean-Marie Daubenton Louis Jean-Marie Daubenton (29 May 1716 – 1 January 1800) was a French naturalist and contributor to the ''Encyclopédie ou Dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers''. Biography Daubenton was born at Montbard, Côte-d' ...

Félix Vicq-d'Azyr Félix Vicq d'Azyr (; 23 April 1748 – 20 June 1794) was a French physician and anatomist, the originator of comparative anatomy and discoverer of the theory of homology in biology. Biography Vicq d'Azyr was born in Valognes, Normandy, the son o ...

, Giovanni Alessandro Brambilla... He worked with Fontana on

viper The Viperidae (vipers) are a family of snakes found in most parts of the world, except for Antarctica, Australia, Hawaii, Madagascar, and various other isolated islands. They are venomous and have long (relative to non-vipers), hinged fangs tha ...

s and with

Giuseppe Saverio Poli Giuseppe Saverio Poli (26 October 17467 April 1825) was an Italian physicist, biologist and natural historian. His collections, together with those stored in the Royal Bourbon Museum, were the foundation of the Zoological Museum of Naples. Th ...

mollusca Mollusca is the second-largest phylum of invertebrate animals after the Arthropoda, the members of which are known as molluscs or mollusks (). Around 85,000 extant species of molluscs are recognized. The number of fossil species is esti ...

. Giuseppe Saverio Poli (1791-1795) ''Testacea utriusque Siciliœ eorumque historia et anatome'' Troja was the inventor of the natural rubber

catheter In medicine, a catheter (/ˈkæθətər/) is a thin tube made from medical grade materials serving a broad range of functions. Catheters are medical devices that can be inserted in the body to treat diseases or perform a surgical procedure. Cath ...

M. Troja (1785-1788) Memoria sulla costruzione dei cateteri flessibili in
Lezioni intorno ai mali della vescica orinaria
', Napoli, Nella Stamperia Simoniana and the author of several important works on the bone remodeling: the first edition was published in Paris in 1775. He wrote a treatise on eyes diseases, and another on

urinary tract The urinary system, also known as the urinary tract or renal system, consists of the kidneys, ureters, bladder, and the urethra. The purpose of the urinary system is to eliminate waste from the body, regulate blood volume and blood pressure, con ...

diseases. In 1801, after a violent smallpox outbreak in

Palermo Palermo ( , ; scn, Palermu , locally also or ) is a city in southern Italy, the capital (political), capital of both the autonomous area, autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the city's surrounding metropolitan ...

, he planned the introduction of Jenner’s

smallpox vaccination The smallpox vaccine is the first vaccine to be developed against a contagious disease. In 1796, British physician Edward Jenner demonstrated that an infection with the relatively mild cowpox virus conferred immunity against the deadly smallpox ...

Kingdom of the Two Sicilies The Kingdom of the Two Sicilies ( it, Regno delle Due Sicilie) was a kingdom in Southern Italy from 1816 to 1860. The kingdom was the largest sovereign state by population and size in Italy before Italian unification, comprising Sicily and a ...

. In 1799 and 1807, he lost twice his manuscripts and his library because of Naples lootings. He died suddenly in 1827 in Naples. He was the father of Carlo Troya and Ferdinando Troya ( it), both Prime Ministers of

References

Sources

* * * Gianni Randelli (1964) Ripetizione degli esperimenti di Michele Troja sulla rigenerazione delle ossa, * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Troja, Michele 1747 births 1827 deaths 18th-century Italian physicians Kingdom of the Two Sicilies people