GRASSI, BATTISTA. - Born in Rovellasca on 27 May 1854, died in Rome on 4 May 1925. His research, which began in the field of parasitology, subsequently extended to various animal groups (Chaetognatha, Insecta, Diptera, termites, Arancidae, Murenoidei and Teleostei) and opened fertile fields of biological investigation.
His name is linked to the discovery of the intermediate host of the malaria plasmodium that infects humans and to the description of its life cycle. He tackled the most varied problems thanks to his great passion for research and his vast culture, and surrounded himself with a capable team of collaborators and students. He engaged in a lively controversy with R. Ross over the priority of the discovery of the anopheles mosquito as a transmitter of malaria in humans, a discovery that impartial sources claim for G. In his later years, he devoted himself to malaria prophylaxis in the Italian regions most affected by the disease.
He was a believer and lived without ambition, humble and poor; he believed that life did not belong solely to the chemical-physical order but depended on a higher order, as is evident from the important lecture: *La vita come sembra ad un biologo*, in Rendic. Acc. Lincei, 1906, II, pp. 219-39.