Marcello Costa (1940–2024) was a leading researcher in neuroscience. He was a lecturer in the School of Medicine at Flinders University in Adelaide, Australia for forty-seven years; during this time his research concentrated on the autonomic nervous system, particularly the gastrointestinal tract and the control of motility. He published many multi-disciplinary studies based on a wide range of highly innovative methods. He played a key role in defining the roles of neuropeptides, in devising methods to characterise different classes of nerve cells, and in the quantitative analysis of intestinal motility. He was also a humanist and a passionate advocate for public education in science.
This memoir was originally published in Historical Records of Australian Science, vol.36, 2025. It was written by Simon J. H. Brookes, David A. Wattchow, Nick J. Spencer and Phil G. Dinning.
© 2025 Australian Academy of Science
