People

Project coordinators at the University of Edinburgh:

Monica Azzolini
My research interests are in the history of medicine and science in Renaissance and Early Modern Italy, with a particular emphasis on the cultural and political contexts of medicine and ‘science’. I have published widely on Leonardo da Vinci’s anatomical drawings, and on astrology, medicine and politics in Renaissance Milan. I am currently completing a monograph on the topic entitled The Duke, the Physicians, and the Stars: Medicine and Astrology in Renaissance Italy. I am also planning to write a second, broader book on the political functions of astrology in early modern Italy.

John Henry
I have broad interests in the history of science and medicine from the Renaissance to the nineteenth century, but with a special interest in the period known as the Scientific Revolution. Thematically, I am interested in the relations between science and religion and the role of occult traditions in the origins of modern science. I have recently published (with John M. Forrester) Jean Fernel’s On the Secret Causes of Things: Forms, Souls and Occult Diseases in Renaissance Medicine (Leiden: Brill, 2005), and am currently preparing (with Simon Schaffer) a new edition of Thomas Hobbes’s scientific works, 1662-1679, for the Clarendon edition of his complete works.

PhD students working in the history of astronomy and astrology at the University of Edinburgh:

Tanya Cosentino
I am originally from Calgary, Canada.  After completing a BA in History from the University of Calgary, I moved to Dublin where I obtained an M.Phil. in Reformation and Enlightenment Studies.  I am currently pursuing a PhD at the University of Edinburgh, studying the effects of Lutheran astrological prognostications in Germany in the second half of the sixteenth century.

Jeff Dubberley
I am a doctoral candidate at Edinburgh University investigating the growing interest in medieval Western Europe in astrology and its relationship to the Christian anti-fatalistic tradition.  A native of Vancouver, Canada, before coming to Edinburgh I spent many years conducting research and education for the charitable sector. 

Jane Ridder-Patrick
I am a PhD candidate in History at Edinburgh University, where I obtained my MSc, researching Astrology in Early Modern Scotland. Trained in pharmacy, naturopathy, herbal medicine and psychotherapy, I am the author of A Handbook of Medical Astrology.