THEME Science, engineering and innovation

The Anatomical Theatre of the Archiginnasio

Anatomical Theatre of the Archiginnasio dissecting table

The Anatomical Theatre of the Archiginnasio can be found in Europe’s oldest university, Bologna University in Italy which was founded in the C11th. The building that houses it, the Palace Archiginnasio, used to house the medical school and is a stunningly decorated building with a wonderful collection of wall memorials. The purpose of this visit…

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Transatlantic Wireless

transatlantic wireless

Transatlantic wireless from Cornwall to Newfoundland. From Poldhu in Cornwall UK to Signal Hill in Newfoundland the first wireless messages across 3,000 miles of ocean were transmitted in 1901. The person behind this amazing achievement was an Italian, Guglielmo Marconi whose early experiments in Bologna and Rome had been followed by further research in Britain.…

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Joseph Priestley

Joseph Priestly
This entry is part [part not set] of 3 in the series Age of Reason and Enlightenment

Joseph Priestley radical dissenter and champion for the open and inquiring mind. Joseph Priestly was quite possibly one of the most important thinkers of the Enlightenment. His direct and open inquiry into both religious beliefs and ideas was also directed at science, politics and society. Who was Joseph Priestley? He was born on the 13th…

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The Royal Society

Royal Society

The Royal Society for the promotion of natural knowledge is one of Britain’s longest standing organisations, its members some of the worlds most brilliant minds.

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Medieval Leprosy

Medieval leprosy

Medieval leprosy was a complicated part of Medieval society. The idea of the leper as being a carrier of disease is too simplistic. The leper was a person who carried the outward mark of sin, whose purgatory on Earth would be rewarded in heaven.

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Laura Bassi Scientist

Laura Bassi

Laura Bassi was born in Bologna in 1711, the same year as St Paul’s Cathedral in London was completed. Laura Maria Caterina Bassi was a brilliant and erudite young woman, born into a heady atmosphere of early 18th century Bologna, a melting pot of ideas and fusion of like minded scholars, caught in the bosom…

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Sarah Guppy an English Inventor

sarah guppy

Sarah Guppy an English inventor and a rare breed indeed. She was born in 1770 and developed a passion for engineering that culminated in a plethora of useful and esoteric inventions.

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Smallpox Inoculation 1721

Smallpox

Smallpox is a devastating disease that holds a unique place in medical history. The foresight of people such as Lady Montague helped in it’s eradication. Many people had their lives saved due to her persistent and courageous actions before Jenner’s vaccination took over.

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