The Resurrector

The man who inspired  Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and whose experiments with electricity are still performed in biology classes today.

Although few have ever heard of Italian physicist Giovanni Aldini, his theatrical public experiments inspired a legend. Tired of reanimating dead frogs, the visionary scientist moved to London, where the Royal College of Surgeons provided him with full-bodied criminals for his public performances. The show consisted of reanimating the body of a man called George Foster, with battery-fueled probes, causing his jaw to quiver, his facial muscles to contort, and his left eye to blink. Aldini failed to achieve his dream, but Mary Shelley’s novel immortalized his quest in her classic novel Frankenstein. 

Winner of the Mariano Romiti 2019 Prize.