Pasquale Sfameni (October 30, 1868, Torregrotta, Italy – October 7, 1955, Torregrotta, Italy) was an Italian physician and scientist.[1]

Pasquale Sfameni
Rector of the Alma Mater Studiorum
University of Bologna
In office
1923–1927
Preceded byLeone Pesci
Succeeded byGiuseppe Albini
Personal details
BornOctober 30, 1868
Torregrotta, Italy
DiedOctober 7, 1955(1955-10-07) (aged 86)
Torregrotta, Italy
EducationDegree in Medicine
Alma materUniversity of Bologna
ProfessionPhysician, University professor

Biography edit

Born in Torregrotta in 1868[2][3] into a bourgeois family, he graduated from the University of Bologna in 1893 with a thesis on artificial and cadaveric alterations of the central and peripheral nervous system.[4][5] He later moved to Pisa where he pursued an academic career, becoming a student of Ermanno Pinzani in specialized studies in obstetrics from 1895 to 1905.[2][3] He then became a professor at the Universities of Perugia, Cagliari, Messina, and Parma.[2][3][4] In 1918, he returned as a full professor to Bologna where he founded the journal Monitore Ostetrico,[2] concurrently becoming the director of the Obstetrics Clinic until 1936.[2][4] From 1923 to 1927, he served as the Rector of the University of Bologna.[3][4][6] He was also a member of the Italian Society for the Progress of Sciences[7] and from 1947 to 1949, of the Academy of Sciences of Bologna.[2] In 1940, together with his wife, he donated all his writings and much of his real estate to the University of Bologna, which used them to establish the Pasquale Sfameni Foundation.[4][8] The foundation awards an international quinquennial prize and several annual scholarships.[8] He returned to his hometown of Torregrotta in 1948, where he died in 1955.[2][4]

A Freemason, he was a member of the Bologna lodge "VIII Agosto" of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite belonging to the Grand Orient of Italy, from which he resigned in 1925.[9]

Major contributions edit

Pasquale Sfameni is internationally known for his research on pregnancy and childbirth, which led him, in 1922, to the publication of the theory on the Utero-Ovarian Revolution and the active dilation of the uterus.[2][3][4] His studies focused on the female egg cell and the origin and development of the placenta, demonstrating the endocrine nature of the decidua basalis.[2][3] His studies on vesicovaginal fistulae, which he successfully treated for the first time through surgical intervention, are also noteworthy.[3][4] The body of his major works is known in medical literature as the Humoral Hormonal Doctrine of Sfameni.[2][4]

Works edit

Honours edit

References edit

  1. ^ "Pasquale Sfameni". Archivio Storico (in Italian). 1868-10-30. Retrieved 1 April 2024.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Bacialli, Luigi. "Biography Pasquale Sfameni" (PDF). archiviostorico.unibo.it. University of Bologna. Retrieved 1 April 2024.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g "SFAMENI, Pasquale". Treccani (in Italian). Retrieved 1 April 2024.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Mariella Di Giovanni (1997). "The figure of Prof. Pasquale Sfameni. Luminary of Torrese origin in the service of science". Torregrotta Municipality. pp. 7–9.
  5. ^ "Student records: Pasquale Sfameni". archiviostorico.unibo.it. University of Bologna. Retrieved 11 January 2016.
  6. ^ "Series of Rectors of the University of Bologna". unibo.it. University of Bologna. Archived from the original on 4 December 2015. Retrieved 10 January 2016.
  7. ^ "GENERAL HISTORICAL-CHRONOLOGICAL ALPHABETICAL AND ANALYTICAL INDEX. Works, contributions and managerial tables (1839-2005)" (PDF). sipsinfo.it. Italian Society for the Progress of Sciences. p. 509. Retrieved 11 January 2016.
  8. ^ a b "Remembering Pasquale Sfameni, sixty years after his death". University of Bologna. 9 May 2015. Retrieved 1 April 2024.
  9. ^ Elisabetta Cicciola, Ettore Ferrari Grand Master and artist between Risorgimento and Anti-Fascism. A journey through the documents of the Grand Orient of Italy, Mimesis, Milan, 2021, p. 157, 20).
  10. ^ "Supplemento alla Gazzetta Ufficiale del Regno d'Italia n.224". augusto.agid.gov.it. 26 September 1925. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016.

Bibliography edit