Durham University

Faculty Member, Modern Languages and Cultures

Senior Lecturer

University College

About

I am interested in the intellectual and cultural history of the Renaissance / Early Modern period (with special focus on the sixteenth century).

Topics I have dealt with span the history of science, natural philosophy, scientific patronage and, more recently, the history of translation.

I am currently working on two articles on the history of astronomy in sixteenth-century Italy:

The comet of 1577 and cometary theory in Italy at the end of the sixteenth century.

Un opuscolo ritrovato sulla stella nuova del 1572: il Discorso di Cornelio Frangipane [Submission Summer 2011]


Recent publications (2005 onwards)

'Il dibattito sulla stella nuova del 1572 in Italia', Novas y Cometas entre 1572 y 1618: Revolucion cosmologica y expectativas de renovacion politica y religiosa, Universitat de Barcelona, 2012

‘I segni celesti: comete e stelle nuove’, Astrologia e divinazione nel Rinascimento, a cura di G. Ernst, Roma, Carocci [Late 2011]

‘Cornelius Gemma and the new star of 1572’, in P. Boner (ed.), Cosmological Continuity and the Conception of Modern Science, Archimedes Series, Springer, New York-Berlin 2010

‘Definitions of cosmography and geography in sixteenth-century editions and translations of Ptolemy’s Geography’, in Ch. Burnett and Z. Shalev (eds), Ptolemy’s Geography in the Renaissance, The Warburg Institute, London [Late 2010-early 2011]

‘«Vere Gemmaeum est». Cornelio Gemma e la stella nuova del 1572’, in H. Hirai-F.Hallyn (eds), Cornelius Gemma (1535-1578). Medicine, Cosmology and Natural Philosophy in Renaissance Louvain, Fabrizio Serra editore, Pisa-Roma, 2008, pp. 57-70.

(with M. A. Granada), ‘Cosmologia e nuova astronomia’, in G. Ernst-A. Clericuzio (eds), Il Rinascimento italiano e l’Europa, vol. V ‘Le scienze’, A. Colla editore, Treviso, 2008 pp. 21-45

I dintorni dell’infinito. Giordano Bruno e l’astronomia del Cinquecento, Fabrizio Serra editore, Pisa-Roma, 2007
[Reviewed by P. R. Blum in Renaissance Quarterly, 61: 3 (2008), pp. 926-928; A. Del Prete, Early Science and Medicine, 13 (2008), pp. 391-393, and in Bruniana & Campanelliana, 14: 1 (2008); S. Ricci, Nuncius, 23: 2 (2008), pp. 407-9; I. Pantin in Journal for the History of Astronomy», 40: 2 (2009), pp. 353-355; L. Capodieci in Bibliothèque d’Humanisme et Renaissance, 71: 1, 2009, pp. 193-196].

(50% with M. A. Granada, Barcelona), ‘Copernicus and Fracastoro: the history of astronomy, the dedicatory letters to Pope Paul III and the quest for patronage’, Studies in History and Philosophy of Science, 2005, 36, 3, pp. 431-76.


Areas of research supervision:
I would be pleased to hear about MA and PhD proposals on :

- Giordano Bruno
- Renaissance and early modern natural philosophy
- Renaissance and early modern science (astronomy, cosmology, geography)
- Renaissance and early modern history and theory of translation

Funding opportunities at Durham University's School of Modern Languages and Cultures are now available .
Please check this webpage http://www.dur.ac.uk/arts.humanities/funding_opportunities/
and/or get in touch with me.

Contact Information