Marcello Malpighi (10 March 1628 – 29 November 1694) was an
Italian biologist and
physician, who is referred to as the "Father of microscopical anatomy, histology, physiology and embryology". Malpighi's name bears to several physiological features related to the biological
excretory system, such as the
Malpighian corpuscles and
Malpighian pyramids of the
kidneys and the
Malpighian tubule system of
insects. The
splenic lymphoid nodules are often called the "Malpighian bodies of the spleen" or
Malpighian corpuscles. The botanical family
Malpighiaceae is also named after him. He was the first person to see capillaries in animals, and he discovered the link between arteries and veins that had eluded
William Harvey and Malpighi has been the earliest person to observe red blood cells under a microscope. His treatise
De polypo cordis (1666) was important for understanding blood composition, as well as how blood clots. In it, Malpighi described how the form of a blood clot differed in the right against the left sides of the
heart.