- Felice Fontana
Felice Fontana (
15 April 1730 -10 March 1805 ), was an italianphysicist who discovered thewater gas shift reaction in 1780. He is also credited with launching moderntoxicology and investigating the humaneye .Early life
He was born at
Pomarolo , and studiedAnatomy andPhysiology in theUniversity of Padua .Teaching
In 1755 moved to Bologna.In 1765 he moved again, this time for Pisa, where he taught
Logic at theUniversity of Pisa .In 1766 he also taughtPhysics , becamecourt physicist , with the task of creating a museum of natural history and physics. The museum, then inPalazzo Pitti in Florence, opened in 1775. It is in this period that he takes an interest in poisons and iris motions, among other things.1775-80: Travels
From 1775 to 1780 he travelled through Europe. Already in 1775 he published a treaty, 'Ricerche fisiche sopra l'aria fissa', on
Carbon dioxide (opposing to, among others, the theory ofTorbern Bergman that it was acid in itself) and 1779-1780 sees his seminal research oncurare . In 1779 he offers the LondonRoyal Society two memories on chemistry: 'Experiments and observations on the inflammable air breathed by various animals', where he denied that flammable air was fit for breathing, in accordance withJoseph Priestley , and 'Account of the airs extracted from different kinds of water; with thoughts on the salubrity of air at different places'.General Principles of Solidity and Fluidity of Bodies
In 1783 he published "Principi generali della solidità e della fluidità dé corpi", expounding a theory on material states of his own: he thought that matter was subject to two
newtonian force s, an attractive and an expansive one. The latter, though, wasn't repulsive as Newton thought, but the result of a combination of simple matter (solid in its natural state) with "heat matter" that drove apart molecules turning bodies into fluids and vapours. In the case of gases, that never became liquid in absence of heat, he considered the interference of another principle: the "flogisto", principle of fluidity and flammability.He died in
Florence .Family
His brother was
mathematician Gregorio Fontana .
*ee also
*
Timeline of hydrogen technologies External links
* [http://www.whonamedit.com/doctor.cfm/2468.html Felice Fontana]
*CathEncy|url=http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/06127a.htm|title=Felice Fontana
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