Galvanizers

When traveling, it’s often the people I meet rather than the buildings and monuments that impact me the most. Many lived hundreds or thousands of years ago, some I’ve had the privilege to meet in person. What they have in common is their ability to stir things up in a positive way, to make a difference in the world and inspire others to do the same.

One such change agent was a physician and physicist in Bologna, Italy named Luigi who noticed, back in 1786, that the muscles of dead frog legs twitched with the application of electric stimulation. In ways that Luigi could not have foreseen, his discovery sparked the scientific field of bioelectricity, the novel Frankenstein, and a new word: “galvanize” because Luigi’s last name was Galvani.

The word first appeared in Italian as “galvanismo” and became “galvanism” in English. By 1818, the English writer Mary Shelley imagined a scientific protagonist, Frankenstein, who used galvanism to bring a monster to life.

According to Merriam-Webster, the word “galvanize” means: 1to subject to the action of an electric current especially for the purpose of stimulating physiologically, 2to stimulate or excite as if by an electric shock, and 3to coat iron or steel with zinc.

By extension, “galvanizer” means “a leader who stimulates and excites people to action.”

Change agents, catalysts, movers and shakers, galvanizers are people to learn from and here are some of their stories.