Topics for the State Exam
Methodology of History of Medicine
1) History of the historiography of medicine in the Czech Republic.
Reading:
- Karel Černý, History of medicine in the Czech Republic: past and present, History of Medicine (Russian Journal for the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences) 3, 2016, 2, pp. 185-198.
2) Positivism and whiggism in historiography of science, problem of the retrospective diagnosis.
Reading:
- John Burrow, A History of Histories, London: Penguin Book 2007, pp. 467-536.
- Piers D. Mitchell, Retrospective diagnosis and the use of historical texts for investigating disease in the past, International Journal of Paleopathology 1, 2011, č. 1, s. 81-88.
- Jon Arrizabalaga, Medical Causes of Death in Preindustrial Europe: Some Historiographical Considerations, Journal of the History of Medicine 54, 1999, s. 241–260.
- Andrew Cunningham, Identifying Disease in the Past: Cutting the Gordian Knot, Asclepio 54, 2002, No. 1, pp. 13-33.
- Prague Medical Report 110, 2009, č. 2 (complete volume).
3) Methodology of history of science after the WWII: Koyré, Foucault, Porter, the linguistic turn, feminist historiography, the world history etc.
Reading:
- Mark Jackson (ed.), A Global History of Medicine, New York: Oxford University Press 2018.
- Ludmilla Jordanova, History in practice, Bloomsbury Academic 2019.
- Sasha Handley – Rohan McWilliam – Lucy Noakes (eds.), New directions in social and cultural history, Bloomsbury Academic 2018.
- Roy Porter, The Patient's View. Doing Medical History from Below, Theory and Society 14, 1985, 2, pp. 175–198.
4) Selected research methods: oral history, (colective) biographies, history of institutions.
Reading:
- Ana Simões – Maria Paula Diogo – Kostas Gavroglu (eds.), Sciences in the Universities of Europe, nineteenth and twentieth Centuries. Academic Landscapes, Boston 2015.
- Pieter Dhondt, University Jubilees and University History Writing: A Challenging Relationship, Leiden 2015.
- Mark Jackson, The Oxford Handbook of the History of Medicine, Oxford University Press 2011 (part III Themes and Methods).
- Keir Waddington, An Introduction to the Social History of Medicine: Europe since 1500, Palgrave Macmillan 2011.
- Thomas Neville Bonner, Becoming a Physician. Medical Education in Great Britain, France, Germany, and the USA, 1750–1945, Oxford 1995.
- Guenter B. Risse, Mending Bodies, Saving Souls. A History of Hospitals, Oxford 1999.
5) Professional elites and the alternative: the “folk” medicine, anti-psychiatric movement, opposition against modern science and academic education.
Reading:
- Robert C. Olby et al., Companion to the History of Modern Science, London 1990, (chapter Professionalisation).
- Sheldon Watts, Epidemics and History. Disease, Power and Imperialism, New Haven and London, Yale University Press, 1997.
- Brian P. Copenhaver, Did Science Have a Renaissance? Isis 83, 1992, 3, pp. 387–407.
- Joel C. Kuipers, "Medical Discourse" in Anthropological Context: Views of Language and Power, Medical Anthropology Quarterly, New Series, Vol. 3, No. 2. (Jun., 1989), pp. 99-123.
- James B. Waldram, The Efficacy of Traditional Medicine: Current Theoretical and Methodological Issues, Medical Anthropology Quarterly 14, 2000, 4, pp. 603–625.
- John Harley Warner, Science in Medicine, Osiris 2nd Series 1, 1985, pp. 37–58.
- John Harley Warner, The History of Science and the Sciences of Medicine, Osiris 2nd Series 10, 1995, pp. 164–193.
Chronological Part
General Reading (applies to several chronological periods):
- Roy Porter, The Greatest Benefit to Mankind: a Medical History of Humanity, New York 1999.
- W. F. Bynum – Roy Porter, Companion Encyclopedia of the History of Medicine, I-II, London – New York 1997.
- Keir Wassington, An Introduction to the Social History of medicine: Europe since 1500, London – New York 2011.
- Mark Jackson, The Oxford Handbook of the History of Medicine, Oxford 2011.
6) Paleopathology: health, diseases and nutrition in prehistoric times.
Reading:
- Václav Smrčka, Trace elements in bone tissue, Prague: Karolinum 2005.
- Václav Smrčka – Olivér Gábor, Health and disease in the neolithic Lengyel culture, Prague: Karolinum Press 2021.
- Eugen Strouhal, Life of the Ancient Egyptians, Norman 1992 (chapters on health and healthcare).
7) Medicine of ancient Greeks and Romans.
Reading:
- Roy Porter, The Greatest Benefit to Mankind: a Medical History of Humanity, New York 1999.
- Roger Cooter (ed.), A cultural history of medicine, vol. 1 (In Antiquity), London – New York – Oxford – New Delhi – Sydney: Bloomsbury Academic 2021.
- Peter E. Pormann, The Cambridge Companion to Hippocrates, Cambridge 2018.
- Mirko D. Grmek – Bernardino Fantini (eds.), Western Medical Thought from Antiquity to the Middle Ages, Harvard University Press 2002.
8) Early medieval medicine, Byzantine medical tradition, monastic medicine, the Benedictine order, the School of Salerno.
Reading:
- Roy Porter, The Greatest Benefit to Mankind: a Medical History of Humanity, New York 1999.
- Monica H. Green (ed.), The Trotula, an English translation of the medieval compendium of women's medicine, Philadelphia 2002.
- Iona McCleery, 'Christ more powerful than Galen? The relationship between medicine and miracles', in: Matthew Mesley and Louise Wilson (eds.), Contextualizing Miracles in the Christian West, 1100–1500: New Historical Approaches, Oxford: Medium Aevum, Monograph Series 32, 2014, pp. 127–154.
9) High medieval period: early universities and the first medical faculties. Beginnings of the Prague medical faculty: people and writings from the period 1348–1420.
Reading:
- Roy Porter, The Greatest Benefit to Mankind: a Medical History of Humanity, New York 1999.
- Roger Cooter (ed.), A cultural history of medicine, vol. 2 (In the Middle Ages), London – New York – Oxford – New Delhi – Sydney: Bloomsbury Academic 2021.
- Larissa Tracy – Kelly DeVries, Wounds and wound repair in medieval culture, Leiden – Boston: Brill 2015.
- Elisabeth Tuisl, Die Medizinische Fakultät der Universität Wien im Mittelalter, Vienna 2014.
- Mirko D. Grmek – Bernardino Fantini (eds.), Western Medical Thought from Antiquity to the Middle Ages, Harvard University Press 2002.
- František Kavka – Josef Petráň (eds.), History of Charles University, 4 vols., Prague: Karolinum 2001.
- Marie Štemberková, Charles University: a historical overview, Prague 2012.
10) The Black death: medieval epidemics in Europe and Bohemia.
Reading:
- Annemarie Kainzelbach, Infection, Contagion, and Public Health in Late Medieval and Early Modern German Imperial Towns, Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences 61, 2006, 3, pp. 369–389.
- Ole Jørgen Benedictow, The Black Death, 1346-1353 : the complete history, Woodbridge 2004.
- David Herlihy, The black death : and the transformation of the West, Cambridge, Massachusetts 1997.
11) Beginnings of Humanism and Renaissance in Europe: Pico della Mirandola, Nicolò Leoniceno, early editions of classical medical authors, influence of epistemological scepticism (Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa de Nettesheim). Renaissance in European medicine: the anatomical revolution, changes in epidemiology, the influence of overseas discoveries.
Reading:
- Roy Porter, The Greatest Benefit to Mankind: a Medical History of Humanity, New York 1999.
- Heinz Schott, Die Chronik der Medizin, Dortmund 1993.
- Mary Lindemann, Medicine and Society in Early Modern Europe, Cambridge UP 1999.
- Mirko D. Grmek, Storia del pensiero medico occidentale 1–3, Roma 1996, 1998 (or the original French version).
12) Czech medicine between the late medieval period and the Thirty Years War: court of Rudolph II, attempts to revive the medical faculty, the first public dissection in Bohemia, Czech plague prints.
Reading:
- František Kavka – Josef Petráň (eds.), History of Charles University, Prague: Karolinum 2001.
- Karel Černý, Sonia Horn (eds.), Plague between Prague & Vienna : medicine and infectious diseases in early modern Central Europe, Prague 2018.
- Robert J. W. Evans, The Making of the Habsburg Monarchy 1550-1700 : an interpretation, Oxford 1985.
- Ivo Purš – Vladimír Karpenko, Alchemy and Rudolf II : exploring the secrets of nature in Central Europe in the 16th and 17th centuries, Prague 2016.
13) European medicine in the 17th and early 18th century: advances in anatomy, the influence of the “new science” (Francis Bacon), alternative currents (J. B. van Helmont, Paracelsian physicians), early scientific societies and journals, development of clinical teaching (Herman Boerhaave). Medicine in Bohemia between the end of Thirty Years War and ascension of the empress Maria Theresa (1648-1740).
Reading:
- Roy Porter, The Greatest Benefit to Mankind: a Medical History of Humanity, New York 1999.
- Heinz Schott, Die Chronik der Medizin, Dortmund 1993.
- Georgiana Hedesan, An alchemical quest for universal knowledge: the “Christian philosophy” of Jan Baptist Van Helmont (1579–1644), London 2016.
- Petr Zemek, Mundus Comenii = The world of Comenius, Uherský Brod 2020.
- Petr Svobodný (ed.), Joannes Marcus Marci: a seventeenth-century Bohemian polymath, Prague 1998.
- František Kavka – Josef Petráň (eds.), History of Charles University, Prague: Karolinum 2001.
14) European medicine in the Enlightenment period: the new theories, medicine and the state (medical policing), patients’ institutionalization (maternity hospitals, lunatic asylums). Czech medicine between Maria Theresa (1740) and the revolutionary year of 1848: influence of Gerard van Swieten, foundation of Josephinian institutes in Prague, reform of medical education, surgery as university discipline, attempts to establish local healthcare system, vaccination.
Reading:
- Roy Porter, The Greatest Benefit to Mankind: a Medical History of Humanity, New York 1999.
- František Kavka – Josef Petráň (eds.), History of Charles University, Prague: Karolinum 2001.
- Ludmila Hlaváčková – Petr Svobodný – Jan Bříza, History of the General University Hospital in Prague, Týn nad Vltavou 2014.
- Heinz Schott, Die Chronik der Medizin, Dortmund 1993.
15) European medicine between 1848 and the Great War: the microbiological revolution, early research institutes, the professionalization in medicine.
Reading:
- Roy Porter, The Greatest Benefit to Mankind: a Medical History of Humanity, New York 1999.
- Heinz Schott, Die Chronik der Medizin, Dortmund 1993.
- Die deutsche Karl-Ferdinands-Universität in Prag unter der Regierung Seiner Majestät des Kaisers Franz Josef I., Prag 1899.
- Erna Lesky, Die Wiener medizinische Schule im 19. Jahrhundert, Graz 1965.
- Irvine Loudon, The Tragedy of Childbed Fever, Oxford 2000.
16) Czech medicine between 1848 and 1918: Czech as language of university instruction in Prague, the new Austrian Education Regulation of 1872, separation of Czech and German Charles-Ferdinand University, development of the Czech medical faculty, architectural development and expansion of medical campus around the Prague General Hospital and the Albertov.
Reading:
- František Kavka – Josef Petráň (eds.), History of Charles University, Prague 2001.
- Ludmila Hlaváčková – Petr Svobodný – Jan Bříza, History of the General University Hospital in Prague, Týn nad Vltavou 2014.
- Die deutsche Karl-Ferdinands-Universität in Prag unter der Regierung Seiner Majestät des Kaisers Franz Josef I., Prag 1899.
17) The world medicine in the interwar period: key discoveries and personalities (insulin, TB inoculation, the new pathogens, Carl Ferdinand Cory and Gerta Theresa Cory, Hans Selye).
Reading:
- Roy Porter, The Greatest Benefit to Mankind: a Medical History of Humanity, New York 1999.
- Philip J. Randle, Carl Ferdinand Cori, 5 December 1896—20 October 1984, Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society 32, 1986, p. 65-95.
- Carl F. Cori, The Call of Science, Annual Review of Biochemistry 38, 1969, p. 1-21.
- W. F. Bynum – H. Bynum, Dictionary of medical biography, vol. 5, Westport – London 2007, p. 1131-1132.
- Werner E. Gerabek – Bernhard D. Haage – Gundolf Keil – Wolfgang Wegner, Enzyklopädie Medizingeschichte, Bd. I, III, Berlin – New York 2007, p. 272-273, 1319.
18) Czechoslovak medicine during the interwar period: from medical policing to social medicine, hospital network, development and history of healthcare insurance, medical faculties in Czechoslovakia.
Reading:
- František Kavka – Josef Petráň (eds.), History of Charles University, Prague: Karolinum 2001.
- Ludmila Hlaváčková – Petr Svobodný – Jan Bříza, History of the General University Hospital in Prague, Týn nad Vltavou: Nová Forma 2014.
- Iris Borowy – Wolf. D. Gruner (eds.), Facing Illness in Troubled Times. Health in Europe in the Interwar Years, Frankfurt/Main 2005.
19) World War II in European and Czech medicine: medical ethics, influence of eugenic movement, persecution of Jewish medical professionals, the Charles University during the war.
Reading:
- Roy Porter, The Greatest Benefit to Mankind: a Medical History of Humanity, New York 1999.
- Zdzisław Jan Ryn (ed.), Medicine behind the barbed wire of the German concentration camp, Kraków: Wydawnictwo Przegląd Lekarski 2013.
- Ludmila Hlaváčková – Petr Svobodný – Jan Bříza, History of the General University Hospital in Prague, Týn nad Vltavou 2014.
- Frank Schneider (ed.), Psychiatrie im Nationalsozialismus: Erinnerung und Verantwortung = Psychiatry under National Socialism: remembrance and responsibility, Berlin 2011.
- Paul Weindling, Nazi Medicine and the Nuremberg Trials, From Medical War Crimes to Informed Consent, London-New York 2004
- Michal V. Šimůnek – Antonín Kostlán, Disappeared Science. Biographical Dictionary of Jewissch Scholars from Bohemia and Moravia – Victims of Nazism, 1939–1945. Prague 2013.
- M. R. Smallman-Raynor – A. D. Cliff, War Epidemics. An Historical Geography of Infectious Diseases in Military Conflict and Civil Strife, 1850–2000, Oxford 2004.
- Paul Weindling, Epidemics and Genocide in Eastern Europe, 1890–1945, Oxford 2003.
20) Medicine in Europe and in Czechoslovakia between 1945 and 1989: changes in secondary and university education, the socialist social care, mass medical care during the communist rule (vaccination and TB prevention campaigns), influence of the Prague Spring of 1968, contacts with the Western science, key scientific discoveries in the world (DNA, psychopharmacs, …).
Reading:
- František Kavka – Josef Petráň (eds.), History of Charles University, Prague: Karolinum 2001.
- Ludmila Hlaváčková – Petr Svobodný – Jan Bříza, History of the General University Hospital in Prague, Týn nad Vltavou: Nová Forma 2014.
- Irvine Loudon – John Horder – Charles Webster (eds.), General Practice under the National Health Service 1948–1997, Oxford 1998.
21) Medicine in Czechoslovakia and the Czech Republic after the fall of Communism: 1990s reforms, changes in education and research, key scientific discoveries of the last decades.
Reading:
- Ludmila Hlaváčková – Petr Svobodný – Jan Bříza, History of the General University Hospital in Prague, Týn nad Vltavou: Nová Forma 2014.
- Oldřich Čech, History of the Czechoslovak, and the Czech and Slovak orthopaedics, Prague: Galén 2013.
- Současná medicína v Plzni: historie a současnost Fakultní nemocnice Plzeň a Lékařské fakulty Univerzity Karlovy v Plzni = Contemporary medicine in Pilsen: a historical and contemporary look at the Faculty Hospital Pilsen and the Medical Faculty of Charles University Pilsen, Pilsen: Euroverlag 2013.
Students are advised to consult additional titles for the state exam with their supervisor and/or chair of the study board.