History

In this course, Professor Miri Rubin (Queen Mary University) examines the medicine of medieval Europe. We start by looking at what medical knowledge was available during the middle ages. We then look at where this knowledge came from and who had...

In this course, Professor Andrew Gregory (UCL) explores the life of William Harvey and his discovery of the circulation of the blood. We will look at why Harvey's discovery is so important and why it was such a difficult discovery to make given...

In this course, Professor Peter Pormann (University of Manchester) explores how medicine was practiced in the Medieval Arabic world. In the first module, we look at the Baghdad translation movement of the 9th century. We then turn to consider how...

In this course, Dr Sally Frampton (University of Oxford) explores how surgery developed in the 19th-century. In the first three modules, we look at how surgeons in the 19th-century sought to tackle the three issues of pain, bleeding, and...

In this course, Professor Michael Worboys (University of Manchester) explores the Germ Theory of Disease and the Bacteriological Revolution in the period 1860 to 1900. In the first module, we look at the ideas that existed about the causes and...

In this course, Martin Gorsky (LSHTM) explores the history of public health in the 20th century. We start by looking at what public health was like during the 19th century and before the creation of the NHS. We have a look at general trends across...

In this course, Dr Shelia Sweetinburgh (University of Kent) explores the relationship between the Church and medicine in medieval England. We will start by looking at what the Church taught about the body and soul, and how this influenced the...

In this course, Professor Simon Szreter (University of Cambridge) explores public health in the 18th and 19th centuries. In the first module, we take a look at what evidence survives for the historian when assessing public health in this period...

In this course, Jane Stevens-Crawshaw (Oxford Brookes University) explores the relationship between plague and public health during the renaissance in England. We start by looking at how public health functioned and developed in the renaissance....

In this course, Professor Vivian Nutton (University College London) looks at the life of the ancient doctor Galen of Pergamon. We start by looking at the early career of Galen. We then examine his later career when he served as physician to the...

In this course, Professor Miri Rubin (Queen Mary, University of London) explores the Black Death. Firstly, we look at what the Black Death was and where it came from. We then have a look at the social and economic effects of such a vast...

In this course, Dr Robert Bud (Science Museum, London) examines the history of antibiotics. We take a look at what medicine and medicines were like before the discovery of antibiotics. We then look at the discovery of penicillin and how it was...

n this course, Dr Jonathan Memel (Bishop Grosseteste University) explores the career of Florence Nightingale in the context of British healthcare and nursing during the 19th century. In the first module, we provide an introduction to public health...

In this course, Professor Virginia Berridge (LSHTM) examines the history of the connection between smoking and lung cancer. We start by looking at when the connection was discovered and how this linked to the sweeping changes occurring in public...