Learn
how discovering the role played by electricity in the body has made
possible such medical devices as pacemakers and see how such devices
have inspired writers and filmmakers. One session meets at the Bakken
Library and Museum for a private tour of its collection of medical
artifacts and exhibits.
Instructor: David Rhees
CS
0530 Sec 001
Event ID: 178562
7:00 PM - 9:00 PM
2/23/2006 - 3/16/2006
$160.00 Open
Thursday
Number of meetings: 4
See monitor for room assignment; Cont Ed and Conference Center
1890 Buford Ave, St Paul, MN map
Course Schedule
February 23, March 2, and March 9 sessions meet in the Continuing Education
and Conference Center on the University of Minnesota St. Paul campus; March
16 session meets at the Bakken Library and Museum, 3537 Zenith Avenue South,
Minneapolis.
Program Overview
The body can be viewed as a complicated electrical machine. It has taken
mankind centuries to understand how electricity works in the body and how
electricity can be used to heal. This course traces that history from the
use of electric fish to treat pain in the Roman era to the advent of brain
pacemakers in the past decade and on to the medical devices that may be available
in the near future. Creating new medical technologies requires great imagination,
and the resulting inventions have in turn inspired authors, artists, and
filmmakers. See how Mary Shelley's Frankenstein was inspired by experiments
with batteries (on corpses!) and watch movie clips depicting fantastic notions
of science and medicine. Meet at the Bakken Library and Museum (March 16)
for a behind-the-scenes tour of its collection of medical devices led by
the museum's director.
David Rhees, Ph.D., history and sociology of science,
University of Pennsylvania, is adjunct assistant professor of history
of medicine at the University of Minnesota. Since 1992, Rhees has
served as the executive director of the Bakken Library and Museum
in Minneapolis where he has curated many exhibits, including "It's
Alive: The Science and Myth of Frankenstein." His interests
include the histories of electromedical technology, complementary
therapies, and the popularization of science and medicine. Rhees
currently is conducting an oral history project on the medical
device industry in Minnesota.
Contact
Information Center
info@cce.umn.edu
(612) 624-4000
