The University of Modena During Bernardino Ramazzini’s Teaching

Abstract

 In 1682 Bernardino Ramazzini opened the first academic year of the renewed University of Modena. In his oration he outlined the origins of the ancient university and celebrated the great Modenese scholars of the past. The University of Modena was founded in 1175 and began to decline starting from the XIV century. In 1682, during Francesco II of Este’s reign, the municipality of Modena and private legacies financed its re-establishment. Ramazzini taught medical subjects until 1700. During his tenure he frequented university colleagues, including physicist Michelangelo Fardella and physician Francesco Torti, and met the great philosopher G.W. Leibniz. His university experience was closely connected with his first scientific researches, especially the one that lead to The Workers’ Diseases (Modena 1700).