BEGIN:VCALENDAR
VERSION:2.0
PRODID:-//Talks.cam//talks.cam.ac.uk//
X-WR-CALNAME:Talks.cam
BEGIN:VEVENT
SUMMARY:The 'Great Ice Age' of anatomy: learning from frozen sections c. 1
 900 - Salim Al-Gailani (Department of History and Philosophy of Science)
DTSTART:20110505T153000Z
DTEND:20110505T170000Z
UID:TALK30720@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Nicky Reeves
DESCRIPTION:In the late nineteenth century anatomists claimed a new techni
 que of slicing frozen corpses into sections translated the three-dimension
 al complexity of the human body into flat\, easy-to-read and unprecedented
 ly accurate images. While histories of anatomical illustration consider fr
 ozen sectioning part of a longer trend towards precision in scientific ima
 ge-making\, I use the technique to expand our view of the place of visual 
 aids in nineteenth-century medicine. Traditionally hostile to visual aids\
 , elite anatomists controversially claimed frozen sections had replaced di
 ssection as the 'true anatomy'. Even more remarkably\, obstetricians adopt
 ed the technique to challenge anatomists' authority and reform how clinici
 ans made and used pictures. I show that attempts to introduce frozen-secti
 on anatomy into such clinical disciplines as obstetrics and surgery reigni
 ted debates over whether medical expertise was constituted from images or 
 through practical experience in the dissecting-room and at the bedside. St
 udying the making\, uses and reception of frozen section anatomy broadens 
 our understanding of the politics of representation in scientific practice
 .
LOCATION:Seminar Room 2\, Department of History and Philosophy of Science
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR