Macedonio Melloni (April 11, 1798 - August 11, 1854) was an Italian physicist. His reputation as a physicist rests principally on his discoveries in radiant heat, made with the aid of the thermomultiplier, a combination of thermopile and galvanometer. In 1831, soon after the discovery of thermoelectricity by Thomas Johann Seebeck, he and Leopoldo Nobili employed the instrument in experiments especially concerned with characteristics of (in modern language) black body radiation transmitted by various materials. He used an optical bench fitted with thermopiles, shields and light and heat sources, such as Locatelli's lamp and Leslie's cube, in order to show that radiant heat could be reflected, refracted and polarized in the same way as light. He also studied the magnetism of rocks, electrostatic induction and photography. He died in 1854 from cholera at the age of 56. Photographed by Dubosca of Macedonio, 1852.