Engineers’ books. University outreach course (2019)

University outreach course organised by the National Distance University’s (UNED) Associate Centre in Segovia in conjunction with Fundación Juanelo Turriano, and hold in Segovia, from 8 to 10 November 2017.

From Leonardo da Vinci to Francicso Sabatini, engineering in the Modern Age seems to have an endless list of subjects to explore in pursuit of answers to questions that hold the key to understanding the history of culture, science, war, art and architecture. It was his services as an engineer specialising in machines for war and peace that Leonardo offered Ludovico il Moro, whilst Sabatini owed his power over all the public works built during Carlos III’s reign largely to his engineering prowess. The multi-sided nature of engineering in those three centuries is mirrored in the libraries of the most prominent professionals of the age, whose books covered a spectrum of disciplines of a breadth that astounds today’s readers. The co-existence of humanist culture and scientific knowledge denoted by those collections was the outcome of intellectual and social ambitions that translated into remuneration and social status not accessible to other professionals. This course, delivered in Spanish, will attempt to answer some of the questions around Modern Age engineers’ readings attested to by their writings and libraries.

Course management: Alicia Cámara Muñoz, Head of Art History Department, National Distance University (UNED); Bernardo Revuelta Pol, architect, Fundación Juanelo Turriano Director

Coordinator: Enrique Gallego Lázaro

Programme:

Friday 8 November (afternoon):

Juan de Herrera y los libros que debe leer el ingeniero Mariano Esteban Piñeiro (Academia de Historia de Portugal y Grupo de Historia de la Ciencia y de la Técnica). 

‘Jerónomo de Soto, his books and court culture in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries’, Margarita A. Vázquez Manassero, Juan de la Cierva post-doctoral reader, ‘European Courts’ University Institute (IULCE), Autonomous University of Madrid

Saturday, 9 November:

‘An “exemplary” library: Teodoro Ardemans, Maestro and Chief Plumber for Royal Works’. Beatriz Blasco Esquivias, Head of Art History Department. Complutense University of Madrid

Books in the Barcelona Academy of Mathematics’. Juan Miguel Muñoz Corbalán, full professor of art history, University of Barcelona

‘Libraries for the record. Books on the history of engineering’. Daniel Crespo Delgado, PhD., art history. Fundación Juanelo Turriano

Sabatini’s intellectual training’. José Antonio Hernando, Head of the History of Architecture Department. Technical University of Madrid. Academia de San Quirce fellow

Sunday, 10 November:

‘Science in the Segovia Academy of Artillery’s books’. Juan Luis García Hourcade, secondary education department head, Academia de San Quirce fellow

Visit to the Academy of Artillery. Juan Luis García Hourcade, secondary education department head, Academia de San Quirce fellow

More... (In Spanish)