Giovanni Batista Grassi
Grassi, Giovanni Batista
Born Mar. 27. 1854, in Rovellasca; died May 4, 1925, in Rome. Italian zoologist. Worked in Pavia, Catania, and Rome (became a professor at the University of Rome in 1906).
Grassi discovered the causes of infection of humans with ancylostomiasis of the duodenum, ascarids, and dwarf tapeworms. He described the development and metamorphosis of the river eel. He studied mosquitoes (as carriers of phlebotomus fever), termites, Phylloxera, and the like. He described (with others) the complete development cycle of the malaria plasmodium and proved that its carrier is the mosquito of the genus Anopheles. He proposed several practical measures to combat malaria.