Speaker
Description
In an era where erudite medical education was based mostly on bookish culture, and learned physicians were prominent educators, book collection and medical activity were interwoven. The collections, drawing on ancient (mainly Greek) and contemporary medical authorities, showcase the eagerness of humanist physicians for knowledge update and professional accuracy.
In this framework, as a continuation of our Scientiae 2024 presentation, we pursue the study of the (still mysterious) Laurentius de Rubeis’ library: 317 books, mostly medical and of Jesuit provenance, printed between 1501 and the mid-17th cent., currently in the National Library in Rome. We will share our new findings on some important aspects of this library and place it in the ecosystem of humanistic medicine.
We will focus on the following:non-medical books; Rubeis’ preferred Medieval and contemporary medical authors; Arabic medicine; books on obstetrics and “andrology”; samples of marginalia providing clues about the educational and professional utilization of these books and showing reading habits or controversies.
Even though Rubeis’ identity has not yet been unveiled, we will share hypotheses about him and his possible interrelations with scholars, medical professionals and personalities in Rome, Italy and beyond. We will present the latest developments of the BUDE database featuring the place of this library in the networks that shaped early modern scholarly communities, and the Rubeis’ virtual library in preparation.
Short Biography
Dr. Dina Bacalexi
CNRS/École Normale Supérieure – UMR8230 “Centre Jean-Pépin”, Villejuif, France
E-mail: dina.bacalexi@cnrs.fr
Personal webpage: https://umr8230.cnrs.fr/en/members/constantina-dina-bacalexi/
Current position: senior research engineer. Research themes: Greek tragedy (my PhD), digital humanities, open science, and history of medicine, especially Greek medicine (Galen), its Renaissance reception, and the humanistic viewpoint on the Arabic Medieval period.
Since 2018: editor in chief of the BUDE database (Base Unique de Documentation Encyclopédique https://bude.univ-tours.fr./php/search.php), part of the network Europa Humanistica, dealing with text transmission from the late Middle Ages to the mid-17th cent.
2002-2014: co-director of L’Année Philologique, the reference international bibliographic database on Greek and Roman Antiquity, .
2014: I launched a programme comparing the “Oriental” and “Occidental” reception of Greek medicine, with Mehrnaz Katouzian-Safadi (SPHERE-UMR 7219/CNRS and University Denis-Diderot) who specializes in Medieval Arabic and Persian medicine, mainly the physician and philosopher Rhazes (865-925), a reader of Galen.
2019-2021: qualified UNESCO expert (drafting the Open Science recommendation).
March 2020: keynote speaker in the international symposium on Open Science organized by the World Federation of Scientific Workers (WFSW, international scientific NGO in official partnership with UNESCO), in Marrakesh. [Canceled because of COVID19]
2022: I launched a project on humanistic networks and book circulation in Europe (15th-17th cent.), focusing on physicians’ libraries.
April 2022: invited to the international seminar on History of medicine organized by Paris Sciences et Lettres University.
November 2022: invited to the international workshop “Open science, a landscape under construction with a horizon of possibilities”, organized by the Centro Internacional de Encuentros Matemáticos and CNRS in Castro Urdiales (Spain).
July 2023: I coordinated the international symposium “Scientific cooperation as driver for peace and sustainable development”, organized by WFSW in Évora (Portugal).
November 2024: invited to the international symposium “Open Science in the Arabic region”, organized by the University Mohammed V of Rabat.
Teaching experience (2014-2020): Greek medicine and its reception.
2012-2021: elected to the French National Committee of Scientific Research.
2015-2019: appointed to the board of the High Council for Evaluation of Higher Education and Research, the French quality assurance agency.
Since 2021: elected to the Central Governing Board of CNRS.
List of works:
https://hal.science/search/index/?q=authFullName_t%3Adina+bacalexi&rows=30&authIdPerson_i=11975
| Keywords | Renaissance, history of medicine, libraries, history of book |
|---|---|
| dina.bacalexi@cnrs.fr | |
| Affiliation | CNRS |
| Position | Senior research engineer |
