Pasquale Sfameni (30 October 1868, Torregrotta, Italy – 7 October 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
Born30 October 1868
Torregrotta, Italy
Died7 October 1955 (1955-10-08) (aged 86)
Torregrotta, Italy
EducationDegree in Medicine
Alma materUniversity of Bologna
ProfessionPhysician, University professor

Biography

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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

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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

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Honours

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References

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  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

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