91673 - History of Scientific Institutions

Learning outcomes

History of scientific institutions. At the end of the course the student will gain the competencies required to follow the development of modern and contemporary scientific knowledge and its relations with the civil, economic and social scene, with special reference to Italy, through the history of scientific and cultural institutions, analysed primarily on the basis of archival and museum sources.

Course contents

Title: Women, Gender and Science

This course offers a historical analysis of the marginalisation women have suffered in science and its institutions, and of the invisibility that followed from it in the history of science. That invisibility, however, is not merely the result of closed doors: it is also a documentary fact. It depends on which papers were produced and which were not, on which were preserved, arranged and attributed — and on how they were subsequently recorded in the repertories that govern what we know of the scientific past.

The history of science was long written by a select male élite whose ideology held the scientific disciplines to be the exclusive preserve of male minds. Even when such historiography did take notice of capable women researchers, it portrayed them in stereotyped terms — salon curiosities, heroines, dangerous exceptions — so as to blur their scientific contribution and place it outside official science. The course therefore takes as its objects, alongside the women themselves, the sources and the historiographical genres through which those figures have been transmitted, diminished or erased. The question running through it is not "why so few?", but rather: what historical conditions made this presence possible, and what procedures subsequently erased its traces?

Main topics

The course opens with an introduction to scientific institutions (Beretta, 2017), as the framework needed to understand the mechanisms of admission and exclusion.

A theoretical section follows, devoted to the problem of invisibility and to the mechanisms by which recognition is withheld. Questions of method concerning archival papers and biographical dictionaries — research tools, but also historiographical objects open to interrogation in their own right — are introduced here and developed chiefly through the case studies.

The course then turns to a series of case studies, from the sixteenth to the twentieth century, showing the many ways in which women — despite their traditional exclusion — practised research and took part in scientific undertakings in the full sense. Each case starts from a concrete source and from the collection that holds it: an autograph manuscript, a correspondence, an anatomical model, a volume of memoirs, a work of popular science. The work is done on the document — on its form, on its history of preservation, on what it says and what it passes over in silence. Among the figures considered: Francesca Fontana, Maria Gaetana Agnesi, Laura Bassi, Anna Morandi Manzolini, Marie-Anne Paulze-Lavoisier, the women students of Vito Volterra, and the women of the Regio Istituto Fisico in Rome (Pietro Blaserna’s women students and Laura Capon Fermi and Ginestra Giovene Amaldi).

 

Readings/Bibliography

 

The program for attending students

Lecture notes and materials uploaded to Virtuale 

• F. Antonelli, Donne, genere e scienza, in M. Beretta, Storia materiale della scienza, Roma, Carocci, 2025 (3ª ed. riveduta e ampliata), cap. 16, pp. 313-330.
• N. Di Tommaso, «Sailing the ocean of nature: Francesca Fontana Aldrovandi in early modern Bolognai», Annals of Science, 2025, 82:1, 44-73, DOI:10.1080/00033790.2024.2305331
• M. Mazzotti, Scienza, fede e carità. Il cattolicesimo illuminato di Maria Gaetana Agnesi, in R. Simili (a cura di), Scienza a due voci, Firenze, Olschki, 2006, pp. 13-37.
• R. Messbarger, Cognizione corporale. La poetica anatomica di Anna Morandi Manzolini, ivi, pp. 39-60.
• M. Cavazza, Una donna nella repubblica degli scienziati. Laura Bassi e i suoi colleghi, ivi, pp. 61-85.
• F. Antonelli, «Le ambiguità della memoria. Appunti su donne e genere negli archivi della scienza tra Sette e Ottocento (Marie-Anne Paulze-Lavoisier)», Genesis, XXIV/1-2 (2025), pp. 149-173.
• S. Boudia, Le donne nella ricerca scientifica in Francia. Il caso della radioattività, 1898-1934, R. Simili (a cura di), Scienza a due voci, cit., pp. 247-262.
• S. Linguerri, Vito Volterra e l'universo femminile, in 80 + 80 = 160. Vito Volterra nel centenario della sua presidenza lincea, Convegno (Roma, 21-23 settembre 2022), Roma, Bardi Edizioni, 2025 («Atti dei Convegni Lincei», 360), pp. 81-104.
• M. Focaccia, «Not Just Boys at Via Panisperna: Women at the Royal Physics Institute in Rome», Physics in Perspective, 24/2 (2022), pp. 154-177.
• A. La Rana, «The Newer Alchemy at via Panisperna: An Early Account of Nuclear Physics by Ginestra Amaldi and Laura Fermi», Physics in Perspective (2026), online first, DOI: 10.1007/s00016-026-00345-4.

Non-attending students

In addition to the aforementioned texts, students must write a short paper (approximately 15,000 characters) on one of the course topics; the topic is to be agreed upon with the instructor, and the paper must be submitted at least ten days before the exam date.

Teaching methods

Frontal lessons.

Active participation is encouraged, including asking questions and discussing issues to be expanded on. Lectures will alternate with seminars; students will have the opportunity to attend conferences given by experts, to watch videos and explore websites, and to visit museums and/or libraries. At the end of each lesson, 15 minutes will be dedicated to questions, requests for clarification, etc. 

 

Students with disabilities and Specific Learning Disorders (SLD)

Students with disabilities or Specific Learning Disorders have the right to special adjustments according to their condition, following an assessment by the Service for Students with Disabilities and SLD. Please do not contact the instructor but get in touch with the Service directly to schedule an appointment. It will be the responsibility of the Service to determine the appropriate adjustments. For more information, visit the page: https://site.unibo.it/studenti-con-disabilita-e-dsa/en/for-students .It is recommended that students contact the University office in advance. Any proposed adjustments must be submitted at least 15 days in advance for the instructor’s approval, who will evaluate their appropriateness in relation to the learning objectives of the course.

Receipt for attending students:

During the period of the lessons the teacher receives, by appointment to be fixed by writing to the address sandra.linguerri@unibo.it, on Tuesday from 11 to 12 pm at the lecture venue. 

Outside the lectures period the teacher receives Monday from 10 to 11 - by appointment to be fixed by writing to the address sandra.linguerri@unibo.it - in his own studio in Via Zamboni 38, Bologna, II floor (studio 4.07)

Period: I semester

Schedules, classrooms, start date of lessons: The course follows the educational calendar of the School of Arts and Cultural Heritage. Beginning of the course, schedules and classrooms will be published by the Educational Office of the School

It is strongly recommended that you look assiduously at the notices that the teacher puts on his site to report any changes to the calendar.

Assessment methods

 Oral exam, lasting about 30 minutes, includes a check: - basic knowledge of the program: the assessment is carried out on the basis of the texts indicated in the bibliography - the ability to understand the problems faced during the lessons - knowledge of the discipline in its historical development - the ability to frame the objects / problems studied in their context, and to discuss them critically - the quality of oral expression and the ability to construct a logical-argumentative type of speech

The exam for attending students will be structured in two parts: 1) Two/three general-interpretative open questions; 2) analysis of one of the case studies


The exam for non-attending students will be divided into two parts: 1) Two/three general-interpretative open questions; 2) evaluation of the written study of a character of your choice. 

The assignment will be marked on the basis of the student’s ability to gather and select the appropriate information to be able to effectively illustrate and link topics and issues

Specifically :

The achievement of an organic and articulated vision, in-depth knowledge of the reference texts, the ability to critically use the arguments considered, expressive mastery and an appropriate use of specific language will be evaluated with excellent marks (30-30L). Exhaustive and satisfactory knowledge, substantially correct expression and good critical elaboration will be evaluated with points between 27 and 29. The acquisition of correct knowledge, but not critically elaborated, and the use of correct but not always precise language will lead to marks between 25 and 26. Mostly mechanical and/or mnemonic knowledge of the subject, unarticulated synthesis and/or analysis skills, correct but not specific language will lead to marks between 22 and 24. Only minimal knowledge of the course contents and/or inappropriate language will lead to low marks (18-21). Serious learning gaps, grossly inappropriate language, and a lack of understanding of the bibliographical materials discussed during the course will be assessed negatively and will result in failure to pass the exam.

 

The use of textbooks, notes or any electronic device is not allowed during the examination.

Regarding the assessment of learning, the use of AI is prohibited for assessments carried out in an unsupervised setting; these will be validated afterward through analysis of the work materials produced, which students are required to submit, and, where necessary, through an oral interview

Teaching tools

Scientific films and documentaries; expert lectures

Office hours

See the website of Sandra Linguerri