Sanctorius of Padua honoured in his native Koper

Sanctorius of Padua, also known as Santorio Santorio, was "one of the most important researchers in the field known as static medicine at the time and he was born in present-day Slovenia," said the Koper Science and Research Centre (ZRS), which organised the exhibition.

Sanctorius of Padua was born in 1561 in Koper, but studied and worked in Padua. He died in 1636 in Venice. His pioneering work in energy balance was an important starting point for the much younger science of kinesiology, ZRS Koper said.

One of the key inventions Sanctorius has worked on was the thermometer. "The thermometer or rather thermoscope was invented by Galileo who put one end of a glass tube into wine and a person held on to the other end, heating it up with body temperature," ZRS Koper said.

Just two years later Sanctorius upgraded the invention. He formed one end of the glass tube into a ball, allowing the temperature to be measured in the mouth. He also solved the effect of altitude on results and added a temperature scale.

The scientist also used a chair-like device to weigh himself and recorded the changes in his weight, learning that he excreted only around 3/8 of the food he ate by weight. Sanctorius used the insights from his research to write his most important work, De Statica Medicina.

ZRS Koper has already named an award for the best students of applicative kinesiology after Sanctorius, as well as one of its auditoriums.

The exhibition was set up by the ZRS Koper's Centre for Humanities, while the Koper Regional Museum and the Srečko Vilhar Library provided the printed works.