The impact of the 1938 fascist anti-Semitic legislation on the development of physiology in Italian universities following replacement of five full professors.

Abstract

The effects of the 1938 fascist anti-Semitic laws on the development of physiology in Italy are discussed, focusing on the replacement of five full professors of human physiology expelled from the Universities of Bologna, Milan, Turin, Genoa, and Palermo. The academic community immediately took action to fill the vacant positions, in the spirit of "business as usual." Replacements were made via either transfer of tenured professors or appointment of chair competition winners as tenure-track professors. The previous universities of the substitutes (Pavia, Siena, Messina, Parma) were also indirectly involved. Replacement proposals formulated by each university were approved by Giuseppe Bottai, minister of National Education. Overall, about half of the 17 physiology chairs present in Italy were involved with a significant and sudden generational change. Based upon biographical and scientific profiles of the expelled professors and their replacements, analysis is carried out on the ensuing qualitative effects on research activity. For the Italian physiology community, the impact was positive, or at least not negative in some cases, with the formation of important schools of research. In any case, the moral evaluation can only be negative on the tacit acceptance of expulsions for racial reasons, considered as ordinary administration or even as an opportunity for a more rapid career. Seen from this perspective, those distant events offer an occasion for reflection and a lesson still valid for all of us today.NEW & NOTEWORTHY The effects of the 1938 fascist anti-Semitic laws on the development of physiology in Italy are discussed, focusing on the replacement of five full professors of human physiology expelled from the Universities of Bologna, Milan, Turin, Genoa, and Palermo. The changes in research topics and the formation of important schools stemming from the application of the anti-Semitic laws have been long-lasting and are still present.