The NUNCIUS Library publishes the results of original research in the history of science and technology, as well as editions of sources accompanied by critical comments and interpretive articles. In the NUNCIUS Library series the following volumes were published:
- Appunti di un gesuita scienziato. I diari di viaggio di Angelo Secchi SJ (1860-1875), edited by I. Chinnici, 2022, xxii-152 pp. (Biblioteca di Nuncius. Studi e testi; 80).
Abstract
Extraordinarily modern for his time, the Jesuit scientist Angelo Secchi (1818-1878) can be fully appreciated through the interesting journals of his scientific journeys. From scientific expeditions, exhibitions and international congresses, Secchi traveled to Spain, France, England and Italy (in the years leading to its political unification) in a European context marked by political instability, great inventions and the affirmation of international scientific cooperation. This valuable source of first-hand historical information is also a pleasant read, often enriched by amusing annotations. - Leonardi Bigolli Pisani vulgo Fibonacci, Liber Abbaci, edidit Enrico Giusti adiuvante Paolo D’Alessandro, 2020, cxviii-824 pp., 22 tavole f.t. a colori. (Biblioteca di Nuncius. Studi e testi; 79).
Abstract
The first complete critical edition of Liber Abbaci by Leonardo Fibonacci, curated by Enrico Giusti assisted by Paolo d'Alessandro, has finally seen the light. The edition you are about to read is the result of a massive philological effort. By bringing together all nineteen manuscripts, the curators have created the most complete and reliable critical edition of this work that will be essential for anyone wishing to explore the figure of Leonardo Fibonacci and mathematics in the Middle Ages. - Piccardi G., La farmacia granducale di Firenze, 2018, viii-134 pp., ill. (Biblioteca di Nuncius. Studi e testi; 78).
Abstract
The Grand Ducal Pharmacy, established in Florence under Cosimo I, was managed directly by the Grand Dukes of Tuscany for the duration of the Medici rule until the death of the last member of the Medici family and continued to operate under the Lorraine dynasty for the next 270 years. Its activity consisted in the production of medical preparations for the Court, its employees, prominent and ordinary citizens. It was not a commercial concern, given the free nature of its activity, and its fame served as an important element of the Medici propaganda. - Focaccia M., Uno scienziato galantuomo a via Panisperna. Pietro Blaserna e la nascita dell'istituto fisico di Roma, 2016, 200 p., 4 plates out of text (Biblioteca di Nuncius. Studi e testi; 77).
Abstract
The text fleshes out the image of physicist Pietro Blaserna, above all from the standpoint of his activity as an organizer and leader of research policies at the turn of the twentieth century. It also examines his role in the formation of a new institutional status for the field of physics in Italy through his intense work as director of the Institute of Physics in Rome, president of the Accademia dei Lincei, and a key figure in numerous national and international scientific meetings. - The Baroulkos and the Mechanics of Heron, edited by G. Ferriello, M. Gatto, R. Gatto, 2016, 434 p., 182 figg. n.t. (Biblioteca di Nuncius. Studi e testi; 76).
Abstract
The new critical edition, presented here with all its sources, is the consequence of the unexpected discovery of four Persian manuscripts, all concerning the second book of this important treatise on mechanics, which opened unexplored field research and offered new perspectives, both philological and scientific, in interpreting this text. At the same time, analysis of the work has revealed passages very similar to corresponding passages of works of Leonardo da Vinci and Galileo Galilei, advancing the possibility that Italian scientists of the Renaissance may have been familiar with all or at least part of Heron's Mechanics. - Il culto di Epicuro. Testi, iconografia e paesaggio, edited by M. Beretta, F. Citti, A. Iannucci, 2015, vi-306 p. (Biblioteca di Nuncius. Studi e testi; 75).
Abstract
More than any other philosophic system of the ancient world, the Epicureanism carried out a careful promotional strategy that found its clearest expression in the cult of the Master. The essays presented in this volume illustrate different aspects of epicurean propaganda – from iconography to literary and archaeological documents – starting from the exploration of the most significant places of worship of Epicurus (Athens, Herculaneum, Oenoanda), to episodes of humanistic and modern reception. This book was externally double-blind refereed. - Metamorfosi tra scienza e letteratura, edited by F. Citti, L. Pasetti e D. Pellacani, 2014, xxiv-266 p. (Biblioteca di Nuncius. Studi e testi; 74).
Abstract
Metamorphosis is a central theme of ancient literature and mythology, but also appeared in the scientific thought on nature. As a product of forces that escape the laws of nature, prodigious transformation was considered through categories typical of natural transformation, offering an opportunity to investigate the boundary zone between literature and science that in ancient culture was not so clear as it is today. This book was externally double-blind refereed. - Crapanzano F., Koyré, Galileo e il 'vecchio sogno' di Platone, 2014, xiv-170 p. (Biblioteca di Nuncius. Studi e testi; 73).
Abstract
The development of Alexandre Koyré's thought, one of the most prolific intellectuals of the past century, is here analysed starting from an apparently minor part of his production. Koyré's ethical, political, and epistemological interpretation of Plato's philosophy, in fact, represents a relevant starting point to appreciate the complexity and richness of the contributions offered by the great historian of scientific thought, as well as the audacity of his thesis on Galileo's platonism. - Angeloni R., Unity and Continuity in Niels Bohr's Philosophy of Physics, 2013, xii-212 p. (Biblioteca di Nuncius. Studi e testi; 72).
Abstract
What's the relationship between science and metaphysics? How can the scientist's cultural background and the daily life inspire his scientific discoveries? Starting from such questions, the author goes on enlightening some of the most controversial aspects of Niels Bohr's interpretation of Quantum Mechanics. The author plows on, trying to delineate the process of discovering made by the Danish scientist, by means of epistemological analysis and an accurate historiographical reconstruction. - Bandinelli A., Le origini chimiche della vita. Legami tra la Rivoluzione di Lavoisier e la Biologia di Lamarck, 2013, x-254 p. (Biblioteca di Nuncius. Studi e testi; 71).
Abstract
This book provides new evidence for the idea that biology, from its modern beginnings, drew on chemistry. Chemistry, the science of material transformations, was born with Lavoisier's revolution. This in turn gave rise to a science of life emancipated from the conviction that living beings were machines moved by a transcendent 'breath of life'. Thenceforth living forms have been seen as part of the physical world, a view still held by biologists. - Ulivi E., Gli abacisti fiorentini delle famiglie 'del maestro Luca', Calandri e Micceri e le loro scuole d'abaco (secc. XIV-XVI), 2013, x-298 p. (Biblioteca di Nuncius. Studi e testi; 70).
Abstract
The author discloses the history of abacus schools and teachers in the Middle Ages and in the Renaissance, developing a theme already analysed in some of her previous works. Based on hundreds of documents, almost all unpublished and kept in archives and libraries of Florence, Prato and Perugia, the essay reconstructs the biographies of ten Florentine abacus teachers of the 14-16th centuries, tied by professional relationships and kinship. - I pronostici di Domenico Maria da Novara, edited by Fabrizio Bònoli, Giuseppe Bezza, Salvo De Meis, Cinzia Colavita, 2013, vii-317 p. (Biblioteca di Nuncius. Studi e testi; 69).
Abstract
The volume offers all the surviving Pronostici by Domenico Maria da Novara, professor of astronomy in Bologna and teacher of Copernico. Scattered throughout many libraries, they are his only remaining writings. Their transcription comes along with a description of Novara's personality and an analysis of their astrological and astronomical contents. The purpose of this work is to add a contribution to the knowledge of astronomy in the age of Copernico. - Seneca e le scienze naturali, edited by Marco Beretta, Francesco Citti, Lucia Pasetti, 2012, vi-273 p. (Biblioteca di Nuncius. Studi e testi; 68).
Abstract
The essays included in the volume, originated by the collaboration of philologists and historians of science, try to suggest a new critical perspective on Seneca's Naturales Quaestiones, no more considered a mere compilation by a moralist doxographer, but a complex intertwinement of scientific, philosophical and literary themes that, from antiquity to our days, never ceased to inspire the thought on ethic and the scientific research, and to enrich literary imagery. - Giannini G., Verso Oriente. Gianantonio Tadini e la prima prova fisica della rotazione terrestre, 2012, xviii-164 p., ill. (Biblioteca di Nuncius. Studi e testi; 67).
Abstract
Between 1794 and 1795 Gianantonio Tadini conducted a series of experiments in Bergamo to prove the Earth's daily rotation. Based on the observation of the deviation of falling bodies, they resumed the experiment designed and performed a few years before in Bologna by Giambattista Guglielmini. Some unpublished sources allow us now to enrich the general debate on the history of the experiment, reconstructing one of the most important and least-known reproductions of the Bologna experiment. - Lucrezio, la natura e la scienza, edited by M. Beretta e F. Citti, 2008, vi-240 p. con 2 figg. n.t. (Biblioteca di Nuncius. Studi e testi; 66).
Abstract
The essays presented in this volume aim at illustrating the scientific dimension of Lucretius' poem De rerum natura, whose contents are normally examined from a literary point of view. The philological approach and the stylistic and historical acquisitions applied to a new kind of research result in an interdisciplinary survey which has favoured the contextualization of Lucretius within the history of scientific thought. - Anna Morandi Manzolini. Una donna fra arte e scienza. Immagini, documenti, repertorio anatomico, edited by M. Focaccia, 2008, x-268 p., ill. (Biblioteca di Nuncius. Studi e testi; 65).
Abstract
This volume is devoted to Anna Morandi Manzolini (1714-1774), a wax sculptor from Bologna, and consists of two parts: a historical introduction tracing the story of this artist and her work within the scientific and institutional context in which she lived and worked; and a collection of original documents, particularly important to better understand how Anna Morandi and her wax figures were received by the scientific institutions of the time. - Mechanics and cosmology in the Medieval and Early Modern Period, edited by M. Bucciantini, M. Camerota e S. Roux, 2007, xvi-212 p., ill. (Biblioteca di Nuncius. Studi e testi; 64).
Abstract
The main purpose of this book is to reconstruct the paths followed by mechanical and cosmological ideas in the crucial period between the first exposition of heliocentrism in the De Revolutionibus by Copernicus (1543) and the presentation of a new celestial mechanics in the Principia mathematica by Isaac Newton (1687). The book is composed of three parts, corresponding roughly to three historical and conceptual periods. The first part aims at disentangling factors of permanence and factors of transformation from the Middle Ages onwards; the second part focuses on the early reception of Copernicus in different intellectual contexts; the essays in the third and last part are devoted to different interactions between cosmology and the new science of motion. - More than pupils. Italian women in science at the turn of the 20th century, edited by V.P. Babini e R. Simili, 2007, xviii-216 p. (Biblioteca di Nuncius. Studi e testi; 63).
Abstract
This book opens new research perspectives by illustrating how the teacher-pupil relationship was real and fruitful in the Italian science context between the 19th and the 20th centuries. It is the story of students, disciples, assistants, women who, thanks to extraordinary teachers (Volterra, Peano, Grassi, Golgi, Levi, Lombroso), gained autonomy, professional maturity and were awarded a chair up to achieving a great ambition, the Nobel Prize. - Advancements of Learning. Essays in Honour of Paolo Rossi, edited by J. Heilbron, 2007, viii-276 p. (Biblioteca di Nuncius. Studi e testi; 62).
Abstract
This volume offers tributes from ten of Paolo Rossi's many colleagues and admirers outside of Italy on the occasion of his eightieth birthday. They take up several of the topics to which he has made pioneering contributions during his long and distinguished scholarly career: Francis Bacon and the character of seventeenth-century natural philosophy, the history of geology, classifications of knowledge, and other branches of early modern thought. - Scienza e teologia fra Seicento e Ottocento. Studi in memoria di Maurizio Mamiani, edited by C. Giuntini e B. Lotti, 2006, x-150 p. (Biblioteca di Nuncius. Studi e testi; 61).
Abstract
The problem of the relationship between science and religion has long been the subject of intense historiographic and theoretical debates. This collection of essays offers original contributions to the advancement of these debates, while reconstructing important themes and historical events: 'scientific' Millenarianism of the early 17th century, the complex story of Galileo, the relationships between natural philosophy and theology in English culture at the time of Newton and Locke, and the controversies about the religious implications of scientific philosophy and of Darwinism between the 19th and 20th centuries. - Scienza a due voci, edited by R. Simili, 2006, xx-374 p., ill. (Biblioteca di Nuncius. Studi e testi; 60).
Abstract
The female presence in the creation and diffusion of knowledge is manifested by the ever-increasing number of names, discoveries, places and correlations. Aiming at reinstating a forgotten equilibrium, this volume sets up a gallery of active women in the world of science, both past and present. - Girolamo Fracastoro. Fra medicina, filosofia e scienze della natura, edited by A. Pastore ed E. Peruzzi, 2006, iv-364 p., ill. (Biblioteca di Nuncius. Studi e testi; 58).
Abstract
Atti del convegno internazionale di studi in occasione del 450° anniversario della morte
This volume contains the papers presented at the conference held in Verona and Padua in October 2003 on the occasion of the anniversary of the death of the Verona physician (1553). Arranged in four sections, these papers deal with aspects of Fracastoro's life and with the spread of his thought, focusing particularly on his studies on the nature of contagious diseases, astronomy, natural sciences and the basic aspects of his philosophical speculations (gnoseology, psychology, poetics). - Pepe L., Istituti Nazionali, Accademie e Società Scientifiche nell'Europa di Napoleone, 2005, xxx-524 p. (Biblioteca di Nuncius. Studi e testi; 59).
Abstract
A rich inedited documentation illustrates how the organization model of the Institut, created in France in 1795, was transferred to the Napoleonic Europe: to Italy, Holland and Spain. The Institut gathered the most illustrious scholars of science, letters and arts, ensuring sites and public financing. The traditional hierarchy among the disciplines was surmounted and the egalitarian ideals of the Encyclopédie were achieved. An organization model was introduced for the national academies in many countries which is still of reference today. - Cadeddu A., Les vérités de la science. Pratique, récit, histoire: le cas Pasteur, 2005, xvii-279 p. (Biblioteca di Nuncius. Studi e testi; 57).
Abstract
Most of the literature concerning Louis Pasteur is fundamentally hagiographic, distorted by myths and based on scientists' uncritical accounts exalting his genius. Here, the author uses the method applied to the study of Claude Bernard by the historian Mirko Grmek: following a strictly evidence-based approach free of all preconceived notions, he has subjected all of Pasteur's works, manuscripts and correspodence to a minute re-examination, from which a new image of this genius and his collaborators (especially the shy and reserved Emile Roux) emerges. - Linguerri S., Vito Volterra e il comitato talassografico italiano. Imprese per aria e per mare nell'Italia Unita (1883-1930), 2005, xii-272 p. (Biblioteca di Nuncius. Studi e testi; 56).
Abstract
The author describes the institutional life and research activities of the Italian Thalassographic Committee from its origins to 1929, when it was absorbed by the Italian Research Council (Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche) and thus loosing its autonomy. Founded in 1908, it was the first state institution in Italy to promote oceanographic research. In keeping with the ideas of its founder, the mathematician Vito Volterra, who promoted closer collaboration of science, technology and production on a national scale, one of its aims was to promote the Italian fishing industry. - Tecnologia e meccanica, edited by G. di Pasquale, 2004, vi-407 p., ill. (Biblioteca di Nuncius. Studi e testi; 55).
Abstract
In the historiography of the twentieth century, antiquity - and especially the Roman world - has been considered a period of scientific and technological stagnation, incapable of formulating an idea of progress similar to ours, thus furthering, albeit unconsciously, its own decline. The author refutes this stubborn historiographical approach, by giving a critical overview of the development of applied and theoretical mechanics in the Hellenistic and Roman era. - Figure dell'invisibilità, edited by M.T. Monti e M.J. Ratcliff, 2004, xxi-303 p., ill. (Biblioteca di Nuncius. Studi e testi; 54).
Abstract
Atti delle giornate di studio Milano-Ginevra (novembre 2002 - giugno 2003)
Only recently have Italian life sciences during the Ancien Régime acquired full recognition. This seminar examines the constant presence of too many "invisible spaces"‚ historiographical events, as many in number as the "great personalities" who are usually the focal point of researchers. It was therefore decided to reflect on the characteristics of these spaces and the reason for their existence. - When Glass Matters, edited by M. Beretta, 2004, xiv-355 p., ill. (Biblioteca di Nuncius. Studi e testi; 53).
Abstract
This volume surveys the historical relations of science and technology by privileging the interaction between the history of glass and the scientific culture of classical Antiquity and the Middle Age. Within this perspective the case of glass has offered an extremely useful example, showing how the development of theories which have often been regarded as the exclusive result of intellectual activities were in fact the result of the progress of glassmaking techniques obtained by artisans. - Quia inter doctores est magna dissertatio. Les discussions de philosophie naturelle à Paris dans le XIVe siècle, edited by S. Caroti e J. Celeyrette, 2004, ix-239 p. (Biblioteca di Nuncius. Studi e testi; 52).
Abstract
The mid 14th century was decisively an active and fruitful period for Parisian academic culture. This collection of essays offers a study on the epistemological, physical and ontological problems focusing on some of the principal figures of the time: Nicholas of Autrécourt, John Buridan, John of Mirecourt, Nicole Oresme, Albert of Saxony, and Peter Ceffons, and provides an overall picture of the context of discussions and an accurate analysis of the source and traditions. - The Routes of Learning: Italy and Europe in the Modern Age, edited by F. Abbri e M. Segala, 2003, ix-141 p., ill. (Biblioteca di Nuncius. Studi e testi; 51).
Abstract
This volume is intended as a contribution to that field of the history of ideas called 'geography of learning', with particular attention to the relationships between Italy and German and Scandinavian countries in the course of the first three centuries of the Modern Age. The contributions discuss cases centered on journeys, correspondences, literary essays and scientific controversies with the aim of capturing the variety and tortuosity of these routes of learning in the Modern Age. - Fabbri N., Cosmologia e armonia in Kepler e Mersenne. Contrappunto a due voci sul tema dell'"Harmonice Mundi", 2003, 279 p., ill. (Biblioteca di Nuncius. Studi e testi; 50).
Abstract
Kepler and Mersenne reach a precise explanation of the structure of the cosmos in terms of divine harmony based on discoveries of the scientific revolution in astronomy, physics and music. This essay examines several important philosophic and scientific aspects – God, 'supreme architect and musician', the explanatory role of science, debates on eternal truths – and represents an example of the complexity of the theme of harmonice mundi in the seventeenth century. - Musa Musaei. Studies on Scientific Instruments and Collections in Honour of Mara Miniati, edited by M. Beretta, P. Galluzzi e C. Triarico, 2003, viii-486 p. (Biblioteca di Nuncius. Studi e testi; 49).
Abstract
A publication dedicated to Mara Miniati, to honour one of the internationally-known exponents of reference for her research in the field of scientific instruments and her activity connected with their conservation and evaluation. An exceptional board of Italian and foreign scholars, distinguished both by their scientific individuality and a role as institutional representatives, testify their gratitude with these twenty-eight contributions. - Piccolino M., The Taming of the Ray: Electric Fish Research in The Enlightenment from Walsh to Volta, 2003, xiv-221 p. (Biblioteca di Nuncius. Studi e testi; 48).
Abstract
Departing from two unpublished manuscripts, this book attempts to revive an extraordinary, albeit little-known, phase of scientific research of the late 18th century, which, from the study of the peculiar properties of some singular fishes through the unpredictable path of science, lead to the discovery of the electric nature of nerve signal and, moreover, to the invention of the voltaic battery. Besides presenting a crucial transition phase in the natural philosophy of the Enlightenment, this book is written with the goal of reviving a fascination with science and its history. - Laurenza D., La ricerca dell'armonia. Rappresentazioni anatomiche nel Rinascimento, 2003, ix-141 p., ill. (Biblioteca di Nuncius. Studi e testi; 47).
Abstract
The study highlights the tension between compositional representation (portraying several parts of the body in the same image) and dissected representation (depicting just isolated parts). Leonardo and other authors prefer a composite iconographical style. Others, such as Vesalio, an analytical one of minute detail. In the background appears the difficult relationship between the compositional idea of harmony, a fundamental element of the Renaissance period, and anatomy, the naturally analytical branch of science. - G.B. Hodierna e il "Secolo Cristallino", edited by M. Pavone e M. Torrini, 2002, 345 p. (Biblioteca di Nuncius. Studi e testi; 46).
Abstract
Based upon the pamphlet Il Nunzio del Secolo Cristallino (The Nuncio of the Crystalline Century), that G.B. Hodierna wrote in his youth, the volume reconstructs the theoretical coordinates of the hodiernian line of thought and the close relationships the Sicilian astronomer established with the Southern cultural environment, the Galileian school, and the vast scientific community of the 17th century, which he extolled as the new time for the growth of human knowledge. Several important historiographic questions, so far discussed amongst scholars, find a more precise formulation in this volume. - Alliney G., Time and Soul in Fourteenth-century Theology: Three Questions of William of Alnwick on the Existence, the Ontological Status, and the Unity of Time, 2002, lxiv-192 p. (Biblioteca di Nuncius. Studi e testi; 45).
Abstract
This volume presents a critical edition, with a doctrinal introduction, of the Quaestiones de tempore delivered by William of Alnwick, disciple of Duns Scotus. It is interesting to note that, between 1314 and 1320, Alnwick wrote three successive versions of the questiones, which reveal the evolution of his theory, and bear witness to the debate on this topic which occupied the early Scotists. The volume represents an important contribution to studies of medieval thought. - Borgato M.T., Giambattista Riccioli e il merito scientifico dei gesuiti nell'età barocca, 2002, xviii-483 p. (Biblioteca di Nuncius. Studi e testi; 44).
Abstract
The volume illustrates the various activities of the Jesuit Giambattista Riccioli (1598-1671) as a scientist, theologian, philosopher, and man of letters in both local and international cultural and scientific contexts. A documentary appendix presents some unpublished documents. - Contardi S., La casa di Salomone a Firenze. L'Imperiale e Regio Museo di Fisica e Storia Naturale (1775-1801), 2002, xix-322 p., ill. (Biblioteca di Nuncius. Studi e testi; 43).
Abstract
A reconstruction of the history of one of the most important scientific institutions of 18th-century Italy. The Imperial and Royal Museum of Physics and Natural History was founded in Florence in 1775 by Pietro Leopoldo and entrusted to the leadership of Felice Fontana, a physiologist from Trentino. Between violent contrasts and authentic outbursts towards the promotion and diffusion of scientific knowledge, the Florentine institution represented one of the most significant moments in the institutional history of science in the Age of Enlightenment. - Laurenza D., De figura umana. Fisiognomica, anatomia e arte in Leonardo, 2001, xxxi-241 p., ill. (Biblioteca di Nuncius. Studi e testi; 42).
Abstract
This book explores the relationship between physiognomy, anatomy, and art in the oeuvre of Leonardo da Vinci. Leonardo's research is situated within the chronology of his own production, his broader research into the morphology of the human body, and the heritage of scholastic biology. The author also demonstrates that Leonardo's gradual invention of a physiognomical iconography was difficult because, in contrast to his anatomical and engineering studies, there was no pre-existing tradition on which to draw. - Besomi O., Camerota M., Galileo e il Parnaso tychonico. Un capitolo inedito del dibattito sulle comete tra finzione letteraria e trattazione scientifica, 2000, vi-274 p. (Biblioteca di Nuncius. Studi e testi; 41).
Abstract
In the ambit of a debate in Parnaso this work, published in Milano under a pseudonym in 1619, presents and defends Tycho Brahe's anti-Aristotelian opinions. Besides an original application of a suggestive literary form treating scientific contents, the interest in this work pertains to the attention Galileo dedicated to it supported by a reply drafted by his disciple Mario Guiducci. - Il ruolo sociale della scienza, edited by F. Abbri e M. Segala, 2000, vi-177 p. (Biblioteca di Nuncius. Studi e testi; 40).
Abstract
A collection of papers discussed at the workshop "The Social Role of Sciences (1789-1830)", held in Arezzo in May 1999, examines the aspects and vicissitudes of the history of sciences during those decades that marked deep changes in the sciences with an opening towards the progressive professional development of disciplines and the relationship between scientists, political power, and society. - Stoffel J.-F., Bibliographie d'Alexandre Koyré, 2000, 195 p. (Biblioteca di Nuncius. Studi e testi; 39).
Abstract
With an inclination towards logic-mathematical problems and the history of mystic and philosophical thought, Alexandre Koyré (1892-1964), a Frenchman of Russian origin, deeply marked this century's historiography. This bibliography, containing several hundred as yet unpublished references, provides a precious guide for the study of his works and thought. - Borrelli A., Istituzioni scientifiche, medicina e società. Biografia di Domenico Cotugno (1736-1822), 2000, 270 p. (Biblioteca di Nuncius. Studi e testi; 38).
Abstract
Cotugno was one of the most important European physicians and scientists between the 18th and the 19th centuries. Besides being the author of fundamental works in the anatomical and physiological field, in 1772 he published the treatise Dello spirito della medicina, which became, in the Italian medical culture of the time, the manifesto of Neo-Ippocratism. - Camerota F., Il compasso di Fabrizio Mordente, 2000, 299 p., ill. (Biblioteca di Nuncius. Studi e testi; 37).
Abstract
The book is comprised of the treatise on the Compasso published in 1584 by F. Mordente, a mathematician at the court of Rudolph II, and a manuscript by Giacomo Contarini on Mordente's compass and other inventions. The introductory essay runs through the history of Mordente's invention by examining the literary sources that evidence its success before the introduction of Galileo's compass. - Pareti G., Il cancro dell'Imperatore, 2000, 219 p. (Biblioteca di Nuncius. Studi e testi; 36).
Abstract
The clinical case of Federico III of Prussia, suffering from throat cancer, could not avoid rousing the interest of pathologists and surgeons who, between the 19th and 20th centuries, devoted themselves to the study of the origin and growth of cancerous cells. Among other things, this august patient's bedside provided the sad scene for confrontation between rival theories, later to be elaborated following the abandon of the formative blastema hypothesis. - Giudice F., Luce e Visione. Thomas Hobbes e la scienza dell'ottica, 1999, 180 p. (Biblioteca di Nuncius. Studi e testi; 35).
Abstract
Hobbes' theory of light and vision is the subject of this volume. A close study of texts, above all those still unpublished, reveals how Hobbes' scientific research is centred around his interest for optics and how optics itself became an exemplary model for the development of his mechanistic conception of reality. - Ciardi M., La fine dei privilegi. Scienze fisiche, tecnologia e istituzioni scientifiche sabaude nel Risorgimento, 1999, 349 p. (Biblioteca di Nuncius. Studi e testi; 34).
Abstract
Making use of many unpublished documents and manuscripts, this volume examines the history of physical sciences and technology (from a theoretical, institutional, economic and industrial point of view) in the Kingdom of Sardinia from Prospero Balbo's reform to Cavour's politics. - Francesco Redi. Un protagonista della scienza moderna. Documenti, esperimenti, immagini, edited by W. Bernardi e L. Guerrini, 1999, 388 p., ill. (Biblioteca di Nuncius. Studi e testi; 33).
Abstract
This collection of Proceedings of the 1997 Convention marking the Third Centenary of Francesco Redi's death constitutes the most organic and representative contribution of the contemporary historiographical research on the image and the work of this scientist and poet from Arezzo. - Journals and History of Science, Atti del Convegno (Florence, 1997), edited by M. Beretta, C. Pogliano e P. Redondi, 1998, 268 p. (Biblioteca di Nuncius. Studi e testi; 32).
Abstract
During the conference "Journals and History of Science", held in June 1997, the issue of the role of journals in transforming the history of science into an independent historical discipline rather than purely a branch of natural science was greatly discussed by the international scholars in attendance. These essays aim to provide a systematic historical analysis of the literature already available on the basic functions and importance of journals as bearers of institutional organisation. - Giambattista Aleotti e gli ingegneri del Rinascimento, edited by A. Fiocca, 1998, 462 p. (Biblioteca di Nuncius. Studi e testi; 31).
Abstract
The first part of this volume deals with Aleotti's versatile figure, relating his unpublished treatises on hydraulics, fortifications, artillery, and musical theory, and the cultural environment in Ferrara at the time. The second part concerns studies on applied mathematics in Tuscany, Venice, Mantua, and other Italian regions between the 16th and the 17th centuries. An appendix including a list of Aleotti's printed works and manuscripts, as well as his chronology and his bibliography, concludes the volume. - Segala M., I fantasmi, il cervello, l'anima. Schopenhauer, l'occulto e la scienza, 1998, 248 p. (Biblioteca di Nuncius. Studi e testi; 30).
Abstract
Through Schopenhauer's Saggio sulle visioni di spiriti, this volume reconstructs the philosophical and scientific conceptions on which psychic phenomena debate was based during the first half of the 19th century. From animal magnetism to phrenology, from discussions on the mind as an organ to physiological research on cerebral activity, this work examines the historical origin of ideas that later converged into metaphysics which has since challenged reason and science with pseudo-rational arguments. - Meschini F.A., Neurofisiologia cartesiana, 1998, 158 p. (Biblioteca di Nuncius. Studi e testi; 29).
Abstract
In the almost thirty-year period between the publication of Discours de la méthode by Descartes and Discours sur l'anatomie du cerveau by N. Stenone aspects of Cartesian neurophisiology were often criticized and discussed; the two most significant moments in this controversy were between 1640 and 1641 following the publication of Discours de la Méthode (when Descartes was called upon to clarify his doctrine on the pineal gland) and between 1664 and 1665 immediately after the publication of Homme by Descartes. - Bret P., Lavoisier et l'encyclopédie métodique, 1997, 202 p. (Biblioteca di Nuncius. Studi e testi; 28).
Abstract
In 1787 Lavoisier and his colleagues wrote articles for the Dictionnaire de l'Artillerie; their manuscript is here published for the first time, from the different versions kept at the Archives of the Académie des Sciences. Dismissing a dogmatic statement of their own field, the 'régisseurs' preferred to write didactic articles for the general public. They presented a state of their experimental research in progress. Lavoisier himself was to write most of the articles dealing with Science. - Marcello Malpighi: Anatomist and Physician, edited by D. Bertoloni Meli, 1997, 325 p., ill. (Biblioteca di Nuncius. Studi e testi; 27).
Abstract
The volume presents a wide range of studies relating to anatomy and the microscope, the social and intellectual dimensions of medical practice, the philosophical imports of mechanicism and atomism, and the different itineraries of Borelli and Malpighi, as well as a collection of important unpublished texts. - Mazzone S., Roero C.S., Jacob Hermann and the Diffusion of Leibnizian Calculus in Italy, 1997, 554 p. (Biblioteca di Nuncius. Studi e testi; 26).
Abstract
Hermann's contribution to the diffusion of Leibnizian calculus in Italy emerges through an examination of numerous published and unpublished sources. His correspondence with Italian scientists is related, strategies to promote and affirm the Leibniz school are reconstructed and the effects these strategies had on the development of analysis during the first three decades of the 18th century are taken into consideration. - Bettini A., Cosmo e apocalisse, 1997, 320 p. (Biblioteca di Nuncius. Studi e testi; 25).
Abstract
The millennial chronology as the true 'time of history' is the topic of this work. The book recognizes in theology, in politics but above all in 17th century cosmological literature the attempt to associate words in the Scriptures with the story of the Earth and that of Mankind. - La nouvelle physique du XIVème siècle, Atti del Convegno (Nice, 1993), edited by S. Caroti e P. Souffrin, 1997, 349 p. (Biblioteca di Nuncius. Studi e testi; 24).
Abstract
The essays collected in this volume are dedicated to the deeper knowledge of several themes directly involved with modern historiography that has promoted a critical revision of opinions relating to the role of 14th century, be it within the scientific and philosophical culture of the Middle Ages, be it in the broader context of that of the Renaissance and Modern Age. Some of the most important aspects of 14th century speculation, in its complex relationship with logical culture of the previous century and with Guglielmo Ockham's thought, without forgetting the echo within the cultural philosophy of universities, are examined. - Gómez López S., Le passioni degli atomi, 1997, 240 p. (Biblioteca di Nuncius. Studi e testi; 23).
Abstract
By following the controversy between Geminiano Montanari e Donato Rossetti this essay relates a chapter of the debate on atomism in post Galilean science. Between experimental science and philosophical reflection this controversy represents an example of the complexity and the theoretical plurality of the Galilean thought. - Ferrari G., L'esperienza del passato, 1996, 357 p. (Biblioteca di Nuncius. Studi e testi; 22).
Abstract
Life, environment, work and controversy of a doctor, humanist and anatomist who lived in the decades during the changeover between the 15th and 16th century. The biography places the creator of public demonstrations of anatomy in the theatre, Alessandro Benedetti (1452-1512), beyond the history of the Paduan Study. Research of works brought to light the complex relation between ancient and modern, between philology and direct experience, between humanities, rhetoric and science prior to Vesalio. - La diffusione del copernicanesimo in Italia, Atti del Convegno (Napoli, 1992), edited by M. Bucciantini e M. Torrini, 1996, 271 p. (Biblioteca di Nuncius. Studi e testi; 21).
Abstract
A collection of essays 'justifying' Copernican thought - but also that of its opponents - prior to the great Galilean discoveries of 1610: from the initial reaction to De revolutionibus to the philosophical and scientific discussions in some of the principal Italian universities, from debates on Copernicus within the 'Compagnia di Gesù' to the positions adopted by Bruno, Della Porta, Magini, Cesi, Galileo. - La politica della scienza. Toscana e stati italiani nel tardo Settecento, Atti del Convegno (Florence, 1994), edited by G. Barsanti, V. Becagli e R. Pasta, 1996, 587 p. (Biblioteca di Nuncius. Studi e testi; 20).
Abstract
The 24 reports, although differing in prospects and individual routes of formation, evidence a common field of investigation and comparison in the relation between experts, government and political communities in the later phase of absolutism. The bond between science and power appears as a constant of the Ancient European regime up to establishing an important element verifying the slow dynamics of institutionalism and rationalism that characterized it. - Bucciantini M., Contro Galileo: all'origine dell'affaire, 1995, 218 p. (Biblioteca di Nuncius. Studi e testi; 19).
Abstract
"Restaging Coulomb"? "To restage" usually refers to the reconstruction of an event or the literal remise en scène of a play. In this case it refers to the reconstruction of a scientific experiment that constitutes a classic — Augustin Coulomb's determination of the law of electrical force by means of a torsion balance in 1785. What are the limits and advantages of historical replication for the historian of science? How can one recover unwritten knowledge, the implicit experimental know-how that has since been lost? Addressing these questions implies studying how Coulomb's contemporaries themselves judged his work and made use of the torsion balance. Did they replicate his experiments, and, if so, how and what kinds of conclusions did they draw? What was the instrument's fate, and how did the experimental practices associated with it evolve? This volume, by closely following the controversies over Coulomb's experimental work in the widely varying scientific, cultural and institutional traditions in France, Germany, Italy, and England, seeks the answers to these questions. - Ciancio L., Autopsie della Terra, 1995, 385 p. (Biblioteca di Nuncius. Studi e testi; 18).
- Ciardi M., L'atomo fantasma. Genesi storica dell'ipotesi di Avogadro, 1995, 220 p. (Biblioteca di Nuncius. Studi e testi; 17).
- Beretta M., Bibliotheca Lavoisieriana, 1995, 363 p., ill. (Uppsala Studies in the History of Science; 20 / Biblioteca di Nuncius. Studi e testi; 16).
- Restaging Coulomb. Usages, controverses et réplications autour de la balance de torsion, edited by C. Blondel e M. Dörries, 1994, 167 p., ill. (Biblioteca di Nuncius. Studi e testi; 15).
- Gatto R., Tra scienza e immaginazione. Le matematiche presso il collegio gesuitico napoletano (1552-1670 ca.), 1994, 392 p., ill. (Biblioteca di Nuncius. Studi e testi; 14).
- Beretta M., A New Course in Chemistry: Lavoisier's First Chemical Paper, 1994, 101 p., ill. (Uppsala studies in history of science; 16 / Biblioteca di Nuncius. Studi e testi; 13).
- Un viaggio in Europa nel 1786. Diario di Barnaba Oriani astronomo milanese, edited by A. Mandrino, G. Tagliaferri e P. Tucci, 1994, 225 p., [9] p. of plates (Biblioteca di Nuncius. Studi e testi; 12).
- Non-verbal Communication in Science Prior to 1900, edited by R.G. Mazzolini, 1993, 620 p., ill. (Biblioteca di Nuncius. Studi e testi; 11).
- Vaccari E., Giovanni Arduino (1714-1795). Il contributo di uno scienziato veneto al dibattito settecentesco sulle scienze della terra, 1993, 407 p. (Biblioteca di Nuncius. Studi e testi; 8).
- Geometria e atomismo nella scuola galileiana, edited by M. Bucciantini e M. Torrini, 1992, 213 p. (Biblioteca di Nuncius. Studi e testi; 10).
- Baroncini G., Forme di esperienza e rivoluzione scientifica, 1992, 193 p. (Biblioteca di Nuncius. Studi e testi; 9).
- Maltese G., La storia di «F=ma». La seconda legge del moto nel XVIII secolo, 1992, xi-230 p. (Biblioteca di Nuncius. Studi e testi; 7).
- Piva F., Anton Maria Lorgna. La biblioteca di uno scienziato settecentesco, 1992, 137 p. (Biblioteca di Nuncius. Studi e testi; 6).
- I Riccati e la cultura della marca nel Settecento europeo, Atti del Convegno (Castelfranco Veneto, 1990), edited by G. Piaia e M.L. Soppelsa, 1992, xvi-413 p., [28] p. of plates (Biblioteca di Nuncius. Studi e testi; 5).
- Archimede. Mito, Tradizione, Scienza, Atti del Convegno (Siracusa - Catania, 1989), edited by C. Dollo, 1992, viii-486 p. (Biblioteca di Nuncius. Studi e testi; 4).
- Bedini S.A., The Pulse of Time. Galileo Galilei, the Determination of Longitude, and the Pendulum Clock, 1991, 146 p. (Biblioteca di Nuncius. Studi e testi; 3).
- Monti M.T., Congettura ed esperienza nella fisiologia di Haller. La riforma dell'anatomia animata e il sistema della generazione, 1990, 273 p., ill. (Biblioteca di Nuncius. Studi e testi; 2).
- Studies in Medieval Natural Philosophy, edited by S. Caroti, 1989, viii-334 p. (Biblioteca di Nuncius. Studi e testi; 1).
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