Visual, Material and Sensory Cultures of Science
The 9th International Conference of the European Society for the History of Science (ESHS), hosted by the Centre for the History of Universities and Science at the University of Bologna (CIS) and by the Italian Society for the History of Science (SISS), will take place in Bologna, from the 31st of August to the 3rd of September 2020.
Bologna is one of the major centers for the study of the history of science in Italy, and this distinguished tradition goes back a long time. Since the later Middle Ages Bologna has been at the core of significant developments in European medicine, natural philosophy, mathematics, astronomy and a wide spectrum of other emerging scientific disciplines. Over the centuries, the city and its university have collected and preserved a vast amount of documentation that traces the practice and evolution of these disciplines within a variety of institutional and civic contexts. As a result, Bologna can praise itself for hosting some of the richest archives for the history of science and medicine in Europe. The anatomical teaching of Mondino de’ Liuzzi in the 14th century, the birth of one of the first proper scientific museums through the legacy of Ulisse Aldrovandi, and the development of mechanical philosophy around Marcello Malpighi are only three of the many scientific achievements associated with the city and its university that have attracted international scholars. By the late 19th century, Bologna hosted the first chairs in the history of medicine and mathematics, and immediately after the process of Italian unification it became one of the leading universities where different traditions in the historiography of science first developed in Italy. These traditions, now open to global influences, have continued to flourish to this day.