Nicolaus Steno and the Intersection of Disciplines in the Scientific Revolution I Prof. Nuno Castel-Branco

Prof. Nuno Castel-Branco examines Nicolaus Steno’s innovative use of focused interdisciplinarity during the Scientific Revolution, tracing Steno’s groundbreaking shift from anatomy to geology and theology by integrating mathematics, mechanical philosophy, and collaboration across European scientific circles.This lecture was given on July 17th, 2025, at Dominican House of Studies.For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events.About the Speakers: Prof. Nuno Castel-Branco is a historian of early modern culture and science. He is especially interested in the social and intellectual interactions between disciplines such as physics, medicine, and theology in early modern Europe and its global expansion. He is currently concluding a book about the emergence of the new sciences in seventeenth-century Europe through the fascinating career of Nicolaus Steno. He argues that Steno’s greatest innovation was introducing methods and ideas from various disciplines, especially mathematics, and chymistry, into anatomy. Undergirding this variety of approaches was Steno’s ability to forge friendships with scholars, princes, artisans, and women. I use Steno’s career to uncover novel interactions between science and religion. His second project aims to improve our historical knowledge of how mathematicians, anatomists, and patrons cooperated in the early 1600s. This project builds upon his previous research on early modern Italy and the Iberian oceanic expansion. He is also interested in science and religion, for which he currently co-organizing two workshops at the Max Planck in Berlin. Keywords: Anatomy, Epicureanism, Euclidean Geometry, Fossils, Galileo, Geology, Jesuit Mathematicians, Mathematics, Steno’s Laws of Stratigraphy, Theology

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The Thomistic Institute exists to promote Catholic truth in our contemporary world by strengthening the intellectual formation of Christians at universities, in the Church, and in the wider public square. The thought of St. Thomas Aquinas, the Universal Doctor of the Church, is our touchstone. The Thomistic Institute Podcast features the lectures and talks from our conferences, campus chapters events, intellectual retreats, livestream events,  and much more.  Founded in 2009, the Thomistic Institute is part of the Pontifical Faculty of the Immaculate Conception at the Dominican House of Studies in Washington, DC.