[Job] Fully-granted PhD position : The Accademia del Cimento and Print Culture: A polycentric printing network (Deadline: 28 June 2021)

14 juni 2021

TACITROOTS invites applications for a fully-granted PhD position in a 3-years Historical Studies programme (https://www.unimi.it/en/ugov/pl/cdsi20200000r18of1) at the Department of Historical Studies of the University of Milan, Italy (Università degli Studi di Milano). The PhD position will be focused on the analysis of the nexus between the Accademia del Cimento and book production by analyzing the editions issued in the orbit of this first European scientific academy.

Our scholarship on the subject has traditionally considered the Saggi di Naturali Esperienze (1667) as the only printed work worthy of a privileged relation with the Accademia del Cimento. However, there are actually many publications that can be traced back to its activity. In the 1660s, authors pivoted around Leopoldo de’ Medici’s circle and produced a wealth of treatises in medicine and natural science. A number of seminal monographs in the field of mathematics also belong, by all means, to the Cimento, ranging from the De maximis, et minimis geometrica divinatio in quintum conicorum (1659) b V. Viviani, the Ars analytica matematum (1665) by C. Rinaldini, to the Euclides restitutus (1658) by G.A. Borelli. To this group one should add a series of works, produced by members of the Academy, which defend the claim of authorship of some experiments previously conducted within the Cimento. This is the case of the works by Borelli and Rinaldini published in the late 1660s and 1670s. To these texts, we could finally add the international reviews of books that show how the Cimento was perceived as a polycentric model and the editions in its orbit mainly appreciated as models and guidelines on how to manage the experiments. Particular attention will be paid not only to the scientific content of the texts (which leads to a reappraisal of the directions in which the Academy was expanding), but also to the commercial dynamics, to censorship and self-censorship, the system of privileges and the circulation of ideas through these works.

The successful candidate will join the international research team of TACITROOTS and will spend most of her/his working time on a tailored research line in the framework of the project. She/he will be involved in project dissemination activities and in the organization of project-related scientific events like for example workshops and seminars.

Further information and application

The position is expected to start on October, 1st 2021. Extra research funding is available for participating to international conferences, schools, workshops, and research visits concerned with the TACITROOTS objectives.

English is the favorite working language within the project team but knowledge of the Italian language is a prerequisite for application.

Applications must be submitted through the University portal by no later than 2 pm on 28 June 2021 and should include a research project (2,000-4,000 words).

You will find detailed information about the application procedure at pages 5-6 of the Call-for-application (https://apps.unimi.it/files/bandi/call-2021-1-historical-studies.pdf?17-JUL-20).

 

For informal inquiries, please contact Prof. Giulia Giannini (giulia.giannini1@unimi.it)