Species Lancisia lobata

For Giovanni Maria Lancisi (1654–1720), Italian cardiologist, epidemiologist, professor of anatomy at the Sapienza University of Rome and physician to Pope Innocent XI, Pope XII and Pope Clement XI. He studied at the University of Rome and qualified in medicine aged 18. Among his many epidemiological insights was that mosquitoinfested swamps are the breeding ground for malaria. He recommended these be drained to prevent the illness and proposed that the most effective way to get rid of rinderpest in cattle was ‘to kill all sick and suspect animals’ instead of allowing the disease to spread while searching for a cure. He also published extensively on cardiology and the classification of heart disease. His landmark book, De Motu Cordis et Aneurysmatibus (On the Motion of the Heart and on Aneurysms) was published posthumously in 1728.