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

Michele Troja
Born(1747-06-23)23 June 1747
Andria (Kingdom of Naples)
Died12 April 1827(1827-04-12) (aged 79)
Naples (Kingdom of Two Sicilies)
Nationality Italy
Other namesMichele Troya
CitizenshipKingdom of the Two Sicilies
Alma materUniversity of Naples
SpouseAnna Maria Marpacher
ChildrenCarlo Troya and Ferdinando Troya (it)
Scientific career
FieldsMedicine
InstitutionsNaples (Italy)

Biography

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Troja was born in Andria. His family had intended him to become a clergyman. But since early childhood, he was highly interested in anything that resembled natural sciences.[1]

Thence he studied medicine in Naples where he received his doctorate. In 1774, he received a scholarship to follow postgraduate formation in Paris where he carried on the research of Henri-Louis Duhamel du Monceau on the growth of bones[2] catching the interest of Lazzaro Spallanzani.

Corresponding member of the French Academy of Sciences, he wrote five articles for the Diderot and d’Alembert Encyclopédie supplement. Back in Naples in 1779, he was appointed Head Surgeon of Neapolitan Hospital for Incurables then ophthalmology professor at the University of Naples.

In 1780, he became First Surgeon of Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies, member of the King's Chamber, and he accompanied the king during his hunting journeys. There Troja performed dissections and worked on botany.[1]

He became closely associated with many famous men of his time: Felice Fontana, Albrecht von Haller, Joseph Lieutaud, Louis-Jean-Marie Daubenton, Félix Vicq-d'Azyr, Giovanni Alessandro Brambilla...

He worked with Fontana on vipers and with Giuseppe Saverio Poli on mollusca.[3]

Troja was the inventor of the natural rubber catheter[4] and the author of several important works on the bone remodeling: the first edition was published in Paris in 1775.[2] He wrote a treatise on eyes diseases,[5] and another on urinary tract diseases.[4]

In 1801, after a violent smallpox outbreak in Palermo, he planned the introduction of Jenner’s smallpox vaccination in Kingdom of the Two Sicilies.[6]

In 1799 and 1807, he lost twice his manuscripts and his library because of Naples lootings.[1]

He died suddenly in 1827 in Naples. He was the father of Carlo Troya and Ferdinando Troya (it), both Prime Ministers of Kingdom of the Two Sicilies.

References

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  1. ^ a b c (in French) A. von Schoenberg, Biographie de Michel Troja, Dr et professeur in Bulletin universel des sciences et de l'industrie: Bulletin des sciences médicales. Bureau du Bulletin. 1831. pp. 226. Retrieved 4 April 2013.
  2. ^ a b Michel Troja (1775). De novorum ossium in integris ant maximis ob morbis deperditionibus regeneratione esperimenta (in Latin). pp. 1–. Retrieved 4 April 2013.
  3. ^ (in Latin) Giuseppe Saverio Poli (1791-1795) Testacea utriusque Siciliœ eorumque historia et anatome
  4. ^ a b (in Italian) M. Troja (1785-1788) Memoria sulla costruzione dei cateteri flessibili in Lezioni intorno ai mali della vescica orinaria, Napoli, Nella Stamperia Simoniana
  5. ^ Michele Trojan (1780). Lezioni intorno alle malattie degli occhi (in Italian). nella stamperia Simoniana. Retrieved 4 April 2013.
  6. ^ Nicoletta D'Arbitrio; Luigi Ziviello (1999). Il Reale Albergo dei poveri di Napoli: un edificio per le "Arti della città" dentro le mura (in Italian). Edisa. Retrieved 4 April 2013.

Sources

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