Giulio Bizzozero and the discovery of platelets

Platelets were discovered by the Italian pathologist Giulio Bizzozero in 1882. He observed them microscopically in the circulating blood of living animals and in the blood removed from the blood vessels. Moreover, he carefully described platelet function in flowing conditions and the relationship between platelet adhesion, aggregation and subsequent fibrin formation and deposition. (c) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.