The physician, scientist and polygraph from Rimini, is commonly known under the pseudonym of Janus Plancus, sometimes Italianized as Iano or Giano Planco. After having attended courses in medicine, physics and botany and having received a degree from the University of Bologna in 1719, he went to Padua, where he met Giambattista Morgagni (1682-1771) and Antonio Vallisneri (1661-1730). Returning to his native city, he practised the medical profession for twenty years, remaining in contact with the most important Italian cultural circles of the time. He was often in conflict with contemporary scientists over questions of medical nature, a field in which he showed a strong preference for the experimental method. Having been appointed to the Chair of Human Anatomy at the University of Siena in 1741, he abandoned it three years later due to open conflict with the academic environment. He returned to Rimini, where the municipality bestowed on him the title of "noble citizen" and that of first physician of the city. To the medical profession he added that of director of a private secondary school in which medicine, logic, geometry and Greek were taught. A scrupulous observer and ardent collector, Bianchi also worked in the fields of botany, zoology and antiquarian studies, collecting important naturalist and archaeological materials in his personal museum. A member of numerous academies, both Italian and foreign, he revived the activity of the Academy of the Lincei in 1745. Noteworthy among his works, in addition to the large production of medical character, is the De Conchis minus notis liber (1739), decribing some forms of foraminifers unknown at the time.