Giovanni Alfonso Borelli

Giovanni Alfonso Borelli, who lived from 1608 to 1679, was an Italian physiologist, physicist and mathematician who is often described as the father of biomechanics. Trained in mathematics, he contributed to the modern principle of scientific investigation by continuing Galileo's practice of testing hypotheses against observation. He made extensive studies of the moons of Jupiter, of the mechanics of animal locomotion and, using the microscope, of the constituents of blood. He also used microscopy to investigate the stomatal movement of plants, and he undertook studies in medicine and geology. During his career he enjoyed the patronage of Queen Christina of Sweden. He was the first scientist to explain that animal and human bodily movements are caused by muscular contractions, a finding that ties his mathematical and physical method to the early history of physiology and medicine.