I am available to speak about subjects related to my books or about the history of Renaissance science and medicine. To arrange a speaking engagement, please contact me directly through the website or by calling my office at the telephone number on the Contacts page.
Here are a few examples of lectures and invited seminars I have given:
“The Origins of Modern Science: Four Key Ideas”
How the idea of discovery, the idea of nature, the idea of experiment, and the mathematical concept of the universe combined to give birth to science as we know it.
“Astrology, Prophecy, and Utopia in the Renaissance”
The story of the Italian friar Tommaso Campanella and how he used astrology and prophecy to instigate a failed political revolution in southern Italy, and to create a utopian state that he called the City of the Sun.
“‘The Kittens Have Opened Their Eyes’: Popular Science and Political Protest in Counter-Reformation Italy'”
How popular scientific and medical books fueled political protest in late Renaissance Italy.
“Stupendous Surgery: Medical Self-Fashioning in the Renaissance”
How Leonardo Fioravanti and other surgeons used incidents of daring surgical interventions to advance themselves in Renaissance society, and some myths that arose as a result.
“The Canker Friar: Piety and Intrigue in Late Renaissance Italy”
The story of a friar with a famous cure who got into deep trouble with the Inquisition, and how he defended himself.
“Books, Readers, and the Sciences in Early Modern Europe”
How the advent of printing gave rise to a new kind of scientific book, and the readers who read them.
“Doctors and Charlatans in Early Modern Italy”
The varieties of medical services available to ordinary people in the Renaissance.
SET AGAINST THE SUMPTUOUS BACKDROP
of Renaissance Italy, this riveting tale explores the era’s medicine and culture through the life of the world’s first "celebrity doctor"—whose miracle cures and outsize personality drew both adoration and scorn.
The Professor of Secrets was Leonardo Fioravanti, a brilliant, forward-thinking, and utterly unconventional doctor... His marvelous remedies and talent for self-aggrandizement earned him the adoration of the people, the derision of the medical establishment, and a reputation as one of his era’s most colorful and combative figures.
