Electric Organ - Research History

Research History

In the 1770s the electric organs of the torpedo and electric eel were already the subject of Royal society papers by Hunter, Walsh and Williamson, and they appear to have influenced the thinking of Luigi Galvani and Alessandro Volta, the founders of electrophysiology and electrochemistry.

In the 19th century, Charles Darwin discussed the electric organ in his Origin of Species as a likely example of convergent evolution: "But if the electric organs had been inherited from one ancient progenitor thus provided, we might have expected that all electric fishes would have been specially related to each other…I am inclined to believe that in nearly the same way as two men have sometimes independently hit on the very same invention, so natural selection, working for the good of each being and taking advantage of analogous variations, has sometimes modified in very nearly the same manner two parts in two organic beings".

In the 20th Century, electric organs have received extensive study, for example Lissman's 1951 paper and his review of their function and evolution in 1958.

Read more about this topic:  Electric Organ

Famous quotes containing the words research and/or history:

    The research on gender and morality shows that women and men looked at the world through very different moral frameworks. Men tend to think in terms of “justice” or absolute “right and wrong,” while women define morality through the filter of how relationships will be affected. Given these basic differences, why would men and women suddenly agree about disciplining children?
    Ron Taffel (20th century)

    ... that there is no other way,
    That the history of creation proceeds according to
    Stringent laws, and that things
    Do get done in this way, but never the things
    We set out to accomplish and wanted so desperately
    To see come into being.
    John Ashbery (b. 1927)