Dr GABRIELE FERRARIO
curriculum vitae
(updated 20/08/2022)
Work Address: Dipartimento di Filosofia e Comunicazione Via Zamboni 38, Bologna - Italy
Home Address: Via San Donato 153 – 40127 – Bologna
E-mail: gabriele.ferrario@unibo.it [mailto:gabriele.ferrario@unibo.it] ; gabriele.ferrario@gmail.com
Phone: +39-379-1759297
EDUCATION
• Ph.D. in Oriental Studies, University of Venice “Ca’ Foscari”, 2007. Granted a three-year scholarship. Dissertation: “The Liber de aluminibus et salibus: Edition and Translation of the Arabic and Hebrew Manuscripts.”
• BA/MA in Oriental Languages (Arabic, Hebrew), University of Venice “Ca’ Foscari”, 2003. Cum laude.
POSITIONS
• 2022-present Assistant Professor (RTDB) of the History of Science – Department of Philosophy and Communication – University of Bologna
[• 2021 Assistant Professor of the History of Science – Department of History – Boğaziçi University
Istanbul, Turkey – Declined]
• 2020-2022 Research Associate – University of Bologna – ERC Project ‘Alchemy in the Making: From ancient Babylonia via Graeco-Roman Egypt into the Byzantine, Syriac and Arabic traditions’ https://alchemeast.eu/
• 2017-2020 Visiting Assistant Research Professor, History of Science Department / Program in Islamic Studies, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore (MD), USA
• 2010-2017 Research Associate, Taylor-Schechter Genizah Research Unit, University of Cambridge, UK
• 2013-2016 Research Fellow in the Arts and Social Sciences at Clare Hall College, University of Cambridge, UK
• 2008-2009 Field researcher, Lawrence J. Schoenberg Database of Medieval Manuscripts, University of Pennsylvania, USA
FELLOWSHIPS AND GRANTS
[• 2018-2019 Frances A. Yates Long Term Fellowship in Intellectual, Cultural and Art History (The Warburg Institute – University of London) – Declined]
• 2015-2017 Wellcome Trust Grant (as part of Genizah Research Unit – Cambridge University Library)
• 2012-2015 Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Grant (as part of Genizah Research Unit – Cambridge University Library)
• 2011-2012 Newton Trust Grant (as part of Genizah Research Unit – Cambridge University Library)
• 2010 Cambridge University Library Foundations Project Grant (as part of Genizah Research Unit – Cambridge University Library)
• 2008 Roy G. Neville Fellowship, Chemical Heritage Foundation, Philadelphia, PA
• 2007 Frances A. Yates Fellowship, Warburg Institute, University of London
COLLABORATIVE PROJECTS
• 2009-2017 Manuscript cataloguer for the World Digital Library project (Library of Congress, Washington D.C. - www.wdl.org/en ) for the description of Arabic, Hebrew and Latin digitized manuscripts
• 2012-2017 Project researcher for the exhibit ‘Art of Alchemy’, opening October 2016 at The Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles, CA
http://www.getty.edu/research/exhibitions_events/exhibitions/alchemy/
TEACHING EXPERIENCE
• 2017-2020 Visiting Assistant Professor, Johns Hopkins University, Fall Semester 2019: Course ‘Islam and Its Cultural and Religious Diversity (600-1600 CE); Co-teaching (with Prof. L. Principe) of ‘History of Science: Antiquity to Renaissance’; Supervision of autonomous research: ‘On Flawed Science: Maimonides on Astronomy and Astrology’; Spring Semester 2019: Course ‘Jews, Muslims and Christians in the Medieval World’; Seminar ‘Themes in Medieval Islamic Thought’; Fall Semester 2018: Course ‘Introduction to Islam’; Seminar ‘Scripta Manent: Manuscript Cultures East and West’; Spring Semester 2018: Course ‘Jews, Muslims and Christians in the Medieval World’; Seminar ‘Themes in Medieval Islamic Thought’; Fall Semester 2017: Course ‘Introduction to Islam’; Co-teaching (with Prof. L. Principe) of ‘History of Science: Antiquity to Renaissance’
• 2016-2017 Guest Lecturer in Medieval Science and Medicine (History and Philosophy of Science: Part II, Paper 1; Biological and Biomedical Sciences: Part II, Minor Subject 113; History Faculty, Specified Subject 11), University of Cambridge, Dept. of History and Philosophy of Science
• 2015-2016 Guest Lecturer in Medieval Medicine (4 lectures – paper 2, part II), University of Cambridge, Dept. of History and Philosophy of Science
• 2014 Assessment of PhD students’ First Year report, University of Cambridge, Faculty of Divinity
• 2014 Lecturer at the Einstein Summer School ‘The Transmission of ideas between religious communities in the medieval world of Islam’, Freie Universität – Berlin
• 2010-2011 Supervision of undergraduate students – University of Cambridge – Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies and Faculty of Divinity – Arabic language
• 2008-2010 Units on the sciences in the Islamic world as a part of the program in Islamic Studies, University of Venice, Ca’ Foscari
ORGANIZATION OF ACADEMIC MEETINGS
• International monthly workshop What’s in a recipe? Epistemology and Practical Understanding of Recipe Literature, University of Bologna, October 2021-June 2022
• International Workshop Sources of Alchemy and Chemistry, University of Bologna, July 2021
• (with Lawrence Principe) The 2018 Morris W. Offit Symposium on Muslims, Christians, and Jews in the Mediterranean World: Art and Architecture, Science and Medicine, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore MD, July 2018
MEMBERSHIP IN ACADEMIC SOCIETIES, ADVISORY BOARDS, EDITORIAL COMMITEES
• 2021-present: Managing Editor of the journal Aldovrandiana. Historical Studies in Natural History, Bologna University Press
• 2021-present: Società Italiana di Storia della Scienza (SISS)
• 2011-present: Society for the History of Alchemy and Chemistry (SHAC)
• 2017-2020: Member of the Faculty Board of the Virginia Fox Stern Center for the History of the Book in the Renaissance (Johns Hopkins University)
• 2014-2016: European Association for Jewish Studies (EAJS)
• 2011-2012: Society for Judaeo-Arabic Studies (SJAS)
PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT ACTIVITIES
• April-May 2017: Curator of the small exhibition ‘Discovering Medieval Medicine in the Cairo Genizah’, Cambridge University Library (April-May 2017)
• March 2016: Organizer of a major event for children for Cambridge University’s Science Festival: ‘The Balance of Health: Enter the World of Medieval Medicine’ (for children aged 7-11)
• January 2016: Curator of the small exhibition ‘The Fame of Avicenna’s Canon of Medicine: A view from the Cairo Genizah’, Cambridge University Library
• 2014–2016: public presentations on alchemy, medicine, magic and daily life in medieval Cairo at Limmud (Jewish public education event) in Manchester (February 2014, 2015 and 2016) and Leeds (November 2015)
• 2011–2013: collaboration with the radio production company Nightjar (http://nightjar.co.uk [http://nightjar.co.uk/] ) for the design and production of a 5-episode radio program on the Cambridge Genizah Collections and on the Genizah Research Unit. The program was broadcasted by BBC 3 as part of the series The Essay in May 2013, with a replica during summer 2015
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01slm5m
• October 2012; October 2011: organization of three major events for Cambridge University’s Festival of Ideas: ‘Demons, scorpions and nightmares’ (2012, for children aged 5-11); ‘Lives in fragments: (2011, for adults); ‘Angels, demons and scorpions’ (2011, for children aged 7-11)
• 2010 – 2017: public lectures and presentation of the Genizah Collections to visiting audiences from a variety of social and educational backgrounds
LANGUAGES
Italian, English, Arabic (reading, writing and speaking); Hebrew, Latin, French, Spanish, Classical Greek (reading); Aramaic, Syriac, German (basic reading)
