In 1791, Luigi Galvani published "De viribus electricitatis in motu musculari commentarius" at the Institute of Sciences in Bologna. This detailed paper presented his theory of "animal electricity," arguing that the muscles of living creatures contained an innate electrical fluid that was released upon contact with metal. The work provoked intense scientific controversy, particularly with Alessandro Volta, who argued that the electricity came from the metals rather than the animal tissue itself.

Galvani's 1791 publication ignited the public debate over "animal electricity" that directly inspired the literary and cultural milieu from which "Frankenstein" emerged. The idea that electricity was the vital force animating living creatures captivated Romantic poets and novelists, who saw in it a scientific basis for their interest in the sublime power of nature. Erasmus Darwin, grandfather of Charles Darwin and a major poet of the era, referenced Galvani's discoveries in his scientific poetry "The Temple of Nature" (1803), weaving bioelectrical research directly into verse.