Bartolomeo Bizio (30 October 1791 - 27 September 1862) was an Italian chemist and a pioneer of microbiology who examined bloody spots on

polenta Polenta (, ) is an Italian cuisine, Italian dish of boiled cornmeal that was historically made from other grains. It may be allowed to cool and solidify into a loaf that can be baked, fried or Grilling, grilled. The variety of cereal used is ...

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 Enterobacteriaceae. They are typically 1–5 μm in length, do not produce spores, and can be found in water, soil, plants, and animals. Some mem ...

'' after the Florentine physicist Serafino Serrati. Bizio was the son of tailor Giovanni Bizio and Paolina née Zampieroni born in Costozza di Longare,

Republic of Venice The Republic of Venice, officially the Most Serene Republic of Venice and traditionally known as La Serenissima, was a sovereign state and Maritime republics, maritime republic with its capital in Venice. Founded, according to tradition, in 697 ...

. He grew up in

Padua Padua ( ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) in Veneto, northern Italy, and the capital of the province of Padua. The city lies on the banks of the river Bacchiglione, west of Venice and southeast of Vicenza, and has a population of 20 ...

. 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 investigated dispersal of the microscopic organism by direct contact and by airborne transmission (albeit at very short distances) by showing that red spots appeared on a piece of polenta kept in a warm and moist place. 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. 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 gastropod mollusk in the family Muricidae, the murex shells or rock snails. It is include ...

'' and '' Murex brandaris'' 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 Biologists from the Austrian Empire