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Francesco Selmi

Italian chemist and one of the founders of colloid chemistry

Francesco Selmi
Summary

Italian chemist and one of the founders of colloid chemistry

FieldValue
nameFrancesco Selmi
imageFrancesco Selmi.jpg
birth_date7 April 1817
birth_placeVignola, Duchy of Modena and Reggio
death_date
death_placeVignola, Kingdom of Italy
fieldchemistry
alma_materModena
known_forColloidal chemistry, Toxicology

Francesco Selmi (7 April 1817 – 13 August 1881) was an Italian chemist and patriot, one of the founders of colloid chemistry.

Selmi was born in Vignola, then part of the Duchy of Modena and Reggio. He became head of a chemistry laboratory in Modena in 1840, and a professor of chemical pharmacology and toxicology at the University of Bologna in 1867. He published the first systematic study of inorganic colloids, in particular silver chloride, Prussian blue, and sulfur, in the period 1845–50. He died in Vignola on the 13th of August, 1881, at age 64, due to sepsis that he contracted while dissecting a dead animal for his research on typhoid fever.

Life

In 1839, he earned a master's degree in pharmacy from the University of Modena. He taught chemistry first at the Reggio Emilia high school, then at the University of Modena.

Distinguished for his studies on colloidal states, fermentation, and electroplating, he was forced to flee to Turin after being caught up in the 1848 uprisings and sentenced to death by the Duke of Modena. That same year, he founded the Giornale di Reggio in Reggio Emilia with Gherardo Strucchi. He refused the financial support the Piedmontese state offered to political refugees and asked to be allowed to teach. Consequently, he was appointed professor of physics, chemistry, and mechanics at the National College of Turin. In Turin, where he was welcomed by his friend Ascanio Sobrero, he conducted important research, including the discovery of lead tetrachloride.

During his time in Piedmont, he formed bonds with other exiles and was among the founders of the National Society for the Unification of Italy, along with Giuseppe La Farina, with whom he became friend. Cavour held Selmi in high regard, as evidenced by their correspondence. Together with Luigi Zini, he promoted the uprising of the Duchy of Modena and its annexation to Piedmont in 1859. As a deputy for the province of Modena, he was part of the delegation that brought the results of the plebiscite to Turin. On that occasion, he was awarded honorary citizenship, along with Giuseppe Verdi, the latter deputy for the province of Parma. He also served briefly as rector of the University of Modena.[1]

During his Piedmontese exile, he frequented the literary salon of Baroness Olimpia Savio, in whose memoirs he is quoted extensively. He served as superintendent of education in Turin and director general of the Ministry of Education.

Chemistry

Francesco Selmi in his laboratory

Between 1845 and 1850, he published the first systematic studies on colloids, particularly on silver chloride,[2] Prussian Blue,[3][4] and sulfur compounds,[5], identifying their main properties and distinguishing between true solutions and pseudosolutions.[6][7][8]. In 1855, he invented the triple-contact battery. The advantages of the new battery were its constant voltage, its low cost compared to existing batteries, its simplicity of construction and maintenance, and the absence of harmful fumes. The battery was used continuously in the Turin telegraph station from December 1856 until May 1857, where up to 100 cells were installed. In 1857, together with Giuseppe Clementi, he founded Il Tecnico. A monthly periodical for the application of physical sciences to social uses, mainly addressed to municipalities, technical institutes, agronomists and industrial workshops. He was among the founders, in 1870, of the scientific journal Gazzetta Chimica Italiana. From 1868 onwards, he directed the publication of the Encyclopedia of Chemistry in 11 volumes, to which he added another 3 volumes of Complement and Supplement.[9]. He collaborated with Ascanio Sobrero on the preparation of lead tetrachloride. A few years after the unification of Italy, he left his ministerial career in Turin and, starting in 1867, took up the chair of pharmaceutical and toxicological chemistry at the University of Bologna. At the Bologna headquarters, Selmi began working in the previously unknown field of toxicological chemistry. He became the founder of modern forensic toxicology with the discovery of ptomaines, or cadaveric alkaloids, culminating in the seminal monograph on ptomaines in 1878. This brought him international fame, and the Ministry of Justice established the National Commission for Poison Evidence, of which he was appointed president. Selmi's studies were responsible for saving many people falsely accused of poisoning, based on previously empirical and inaccurate scientific evidence. He died in Vignola in 1881, a victim of science and his tireless pursuit of research, having contracted the virus while dissecting a dead animal to study typhoid fever toxins. The life of Francesco Selmi, in particular his involvement in the Risorgimento uprisings and the discovery of ptomaine, inspired the volume Amaro in bocca [10], a collection of stories published on the occasion of the 2nd centenary of his birth.

Studies on Dante and the Italian language

During his Piedmontese period he also studied Dante, with particular reference to philology and the comparison of the lexical variants of the codices relating to the Divine Comedy[11][12]. In 1865 he published the :it:Chiose Selmi, or anonymous glosses on the first canticle of the Divine Comedy, a collection of interpretations of the allegories contained in the first canto of the Inferno. In 1873 he published the Trattati morali di Albertano da Brescia. The treatises referred to in the title are a 13th-century Latin text, written by Albertano da Brescia and translated into the vernacular in 1268 by Andrea da Grosseto. The text by Andrea da Grosseto was discovered by Selmi in 1863 in the Magliabechiana library, now the National Central Library of Florence, as part of his research on Dante Alighieri. Selmi makes a philological analysis of Andrea da Grosseto's text and of the Latin versions of the original work, to which he adds numerous observations in the notes, and certain of the importance of the rediscovered text, he comments in the warning: "the oldest monument of the literary Italian language".

Awards and honors

Monument in memory of Francesco Selmi, Rector's Palace of the University of Bologna

Streets in Modena, Bologna, Rome, Vignola, Sassuolo, Parabiago have been named after Francesco Selmi. In Vignola, the local municipal library has also been named after him, which preserves the Francesco Selmi Documentary Collection with laboratory material and documents, some of which are still unpublished, donated by M° Giovanni Bartoli, last direct heir of Francesco Selmi. In Modena, there is the "Francesco Selmi" Higher Education Institute. In 1868, he was named Knight of the Order of the Crown of Italy and in 1874, at the proposal of the Ministry of Public Education, Commander. In 1890, a new chemistry periodical[1], published in Pavia until 1898, was named after the chemist from Vignola.

Scientific works

Literary works

Bibliography

References

References

  1. Francesco Selmi, ''Intorno all'azione dell'iodio sopra il clorido di mercurio: memoria prima di Francesco Selmi'', Milano: V. Guglielmini, 1845
  2. Francesco Selmi, ''Azione del latte sulle materie metalliche e reazioni di queste su quello: discorso letto da Francesco Selmi nell'adunanza pubblica del 21 maggio 1847 della Societa d'agricoltura di Reggio'', Modena: Antonio ed Angelo Cappelli, 1847
  3. Francesco Selmi, ''Intorno ai vocaboli precipitazione e coagulazione adoprati indistintamente a significare il deporsi dell'albumina da un menstruo allo stato insolubile: considerazioni presentate alla R. Accademia di Scienze, Lettere ed Arti di Modena nell'adunanza del 30 marzo 1842, e lette nel congresso scientifico italiano riunitosi in Padova nel settembre dello stesso anno da Francesco Selmi'', Modena: Pei Tipi della R.D. Camera, 1843.
  4. Francesco Selmi, ''Studj sulla dimulsione di cloruro d'argento'', Nuovi Annali delle Scienze Naturali di Bologna, fasc. di agosto 1845.
  5. Francesco Selmi, ''Studio intorno alle pseudo-soluzioni degli azzurri di Prussia ed alla influenza dei sali nel guastarle'', Bologna: Tipi Sassi, 1847.
  6. (1947). "The structure and properties of colloidal sulfur". Journal of Colloid Science.
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