Giovanni Aldini (1762-1834), Italian physicist, attempting to revive an ox's head using an electric current. He also carried out such experiments on human bodies. Aldini was interested in galvanism, the contraction of muscle when stimulated by an electric current, and was a pioneer in the use of electric shock therapy to treat mentally ill patients. He was also interested in the construction of lighthouses, and the preservation of life and material objects from fire. Aldini became professor of physics at Bologna in 1798. From Essai Theoretique et Experimentale sur le Galavanisme (1804).