Periodic Reporting for period 1 - MedDis (Disputing Medicine: Medical Dissertations at the Academy of Turku (1640–1828))
Reporting period: 2022-01-01 to 2023-12-31
The MedDis project aims to examine the transformation of medical dissertations at the Royal Academy of Turku (Finland) from 1640 to 1828. It addresses the lack of comprehensive understanding of how dissertations evolved as a genre during the early modern period. By focusing on a specific category of dissertations and leveraging digital tools (Transkribus platform), the project aims to shed light on the development of scientific discourse and knowledge transmission in early modern Europe. Through cataloging, transcribing, and analyzing these dissertations, the project contributes to filling the gaps in our understanding of historical scientific communication and lays the groundwork for broader studies on dissertations across different institutions and disciplines.
The project catalogued and transcribed medical dissertations from the Royal Academy of Turku (1640-1828) into a digital database. The analysis of these dissertations provided insights into the evolution of medical education and the evolution of the dissertation genre. Publications resulting from the project include a book chapter on 'Latin as the language of science', an article on medical nosology (submitted: Johan Haartman’s Sciagraphia morborum and the transmission of nosological knowledge in early modern Europe), and a digital humanities paper to be submitted to Open Science Europe (Tracking references in early modern dissertations with Transkribus).
By cataloguing, transcribing, and analyzing these dissertations, the project contributed to filling the gaps in our understanding of historical scientific communication and laid the groundwork for broader studies on dissertation genres across different institutions and disciplines. Furthermore, it resulted in the ongoing refinement of a novel Transkribus model designed to identify specific textual elements in early modern printed texts.