Abstract
This project deals with the musealisation of Italian scientists, along with all related commemorative practices, between 1839 and 1939. In this time frame, the construction of a collective memory of science stemmed from conscious political strategies that aimed at reinforcing the historical role played by men and (seldom) women of science within Italian University and the broader society. The growing patriotism of Italian scientists underpinned their program of fabrication of a shared tradition highlighted in the lives and works of Leonardo, Galileo, Volta, and few others. Our project will focus precisely on the strategies conceived by these scientists to reconstruct a consistent past through monuments and exhibitions.
Despite the cultural and political differences of 19th c. Italian cities, these strategies shared a homogenous view centered upon the glorification of the achievements of science and its national heroes. This process was paralleled by a gender dynamics by which the historical role of women scientists was progressively readjusted.
Following the thread of the Congresses of Italian Scientists (from 1839 to 1939), industrial exhibitions and national commemorative events, we shall focus our attention on a cultural phenomenon which became extremely successful, i.e. the musealisation of eminent Italian figures. The tradition of the monumentalisation of science promoted by the Risorgimento was continued during the 20th c.when, with the advent of Fascism and nationalism, the musealisation of the “great men of science” took a new political turn and was met with unprecedented success.
The creation of museums exhibiting collections of scientific instruments, naturalia, memorabilia and relics was not exclusively guided by political purposes but it evoked a secularised version of the treasures exhibited in churches and, at the same time, it envisaged a new role for science in Italian society. Such a program, in line with the political ideology of the Risorgimento and Fascism, brought the history of Italian science to the attention of the general public. In fact, this commemorative practice was a distinctive feature of the Italian tradition, and it helps to explain the predilection of Italian historiography for the biographies of eminent scientists, as well as the exceptional attention paid to the preservation and the public enhancement of collections. Both these historiographical features exerted their influence up to our time.
Our project will focus on a few significant cases which are representatives of these values and that influenced the memorial practice of Italian science up to our time. The cases we shall explore in depth are the Tribuna di Galileo in Florence (1841), Palazzo del Bo in Padova (1842-1942), the museums created in Bologna to celebrate Ulisse Aldrovandi (1864-1907), the University Museum in Pavia (1930), the Museo di Storia dell’Arte Sanitaria (1933) and the Museo di Storia della medicina (1938) in Rome.