Galileo Galilei
Lead Poisening
LIfe of Galileo
He was born on Feb, 15, 1564 in Florence, Italy. He was an Astronomer and Physicist. He was also a mathematics professor for 20 years. He wrote his book about the Sun being in the center of the universe, the Catholic Church sentenced him to life in prison. He got let out on house when he was 70 and died 7 years later on Jan, 8th, 1642 in Arcetri, Italy.
Lead Poisoning
Galileo drank so much wine (people thought it was more safe to drink wine over water). he always added lead to his wine. He rotted from the inside out. First came headaches, anemia and rotten teeth. Then hernia and gluacoma. He also suffered from kidney stones.
Affects of this
Galileo could barely see what he was writing for his book due to his glaucoma . He could barely get around. His fists were mageled claws due to gout. He had also suffered from anemia. He was in so much pain from his hernia.
How he got treated back then
Galileo got a huge iron truss wrapped around him daily to fix his hernia, back then they only knew it as a hole in the stomach.
If he got treated today for lead poisoning
Doctors would of told him to remove the contanimation area.
- Chelation therapy. In this treatment, you take a medication that binds with the lead so that it's excreted in your urine.
- EDTA therapy. Doctors treat adults with lead levels greater than 45 mcg/dL of blood with one or more of three drugs, most commonly a chemical called ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA). Depending on your lead level, you may need more than one treatment. In such severe cases, however, it may not be possible to reverse damage that has already occurred.
Timeline of effects of the poisoning
1st- Gout and kidney stones
2nd- Headaches and anemia and rotten teeth3rd- hernia and glaucoma
Galileo Galilei - in a nutshell