‘Visualizing the Body: The Convergence of Art, Cadaver, and Medical Knowledge’

When: October 24, 2014, 1:00 to 5:30 p.m.
Where: 555 Diehl Hall | Directions
Free and open to the public.

About the symposium

This symposium explores how anatomical knowledge was produced across the global pre-modern world into the present through four speaker presentations. Presentations will last one hour with time for a question-and-answer session with the each of the speakers.  

Session 1, 1:00 p.m.: “A Medieval Surgeon’s Anatomy.” Michael McVaugh, University of North Carolina.

Session 2, 2:00 p.m.: “Andreas Vesalius as Surgeon: Revisiting the authorship of Chirurgia Magna (1568).” Jole Shackelford, Surgery Department, University of Minnesota.
Coffee Break 3:00-3:30

Session 3, 3:30 p.m.: “Working Words: Dissection, Surgery and Clinical Medicine in Eighteenth-Century London.” Susan Lawrence, Department of History, The Ohio State University.

Session 4, 4:30 p.m.: “Institutional Bodies: Identity, Narrative and the Undisposed Dead.” Myriam Nafte, Department of Anthropology, McMaster University.
Reception and exhibit opening reception 5:30-6:30

Reception will follow symposium

A reception will be held immediately following the symposium at the Wangensteen Historical Library, adjacent to the symposium venue.  Reception attendees can view the exhibit, “Visualizing the Body: Celebrating 500 Years of Andreas Vesalius, Renaissance Art, and Medical Revolution.”  

This exhibit commemorates the 500th anniversary of Andreas Vesalius (1514-1564), father of modern anatomy, and draws upon the Wangensteen Historical Library’s strong holdings in the history of anatomy. It explores Vesalius’ achievements, other benchmarks of anatomical illustration, and themes such as acquiring bodies, anatomy theaters, and 3-dimensional anatomical models.

Event sponsorship

This event is co-sponsored by the Owen H. Wangensteen Historical Library of Biology and Medicine, the Program in the History of Science, Technology and Medicine, the Consortium for the Study of the Premodern World, and the Department of Integrative Biology and Physiology.