Fabrizio Baldassarri Lecture: Andrea Cesalpino (1524-1603): Philosopher, Botanist and Pharmacist in Renaissance Tuscany

Mapping Meaning from Plants

Andrea Cesalpino (1524–1603): Philosopher, Botanist and Pharmacist in Renaissance Tuscany

Fabrizio Baldassarri

About the speaker

Fabrizio Baldassarri (Ca’ Foscari University / Indiana University Bloomington) holds a Marie Skłodovska-Curie fellowship to conduct research on early modern natural philosophical studies of plants from Andrea Cesalpino to Marcello Malpighi, especially focusing on the intersections between natural philosophy, botany and medicine. He has published widely on Descartes’ medical and botanical words. Author of Il metodo al tavolo anatomico. Descartes e la medicina (Method at the Anatomical Table: Descartes and medicine, 2021), Baldassari is also co-editor of Scientiae in the History of Medicine (Rome, 2021) and Vegetative Powers (Springer, 2021), as well as several special issues on plants in early modern natural philosophy and knowledge. He is now working on a volume on Andrea Cesalpino and one on plants in pre-modern medicine.

Baldassari’s lecture is sponsored by the Department of Art and Visual Culture and the biological and pre-medical illustration program. Students will also have the opportunity to meet with Baldassarri and discuss with him the plants in the university’s herbarium, as well as some of the relevant texts in our special collections during his visit (Oct. 24 and Oct. 25). Interested colleagues are welcome, too!