~e; Shocked: The Romance of Electricity (NYC)

From bc <human@electronetwork.org>
Date Sun, 8 Sep 2002 23:15:55 -0500



  thanks to J... if anyone visits the exhibit, it would
  be great to know how it is presented and received...
  the wonderful, and i am not sure if it is understood,
  aspect of the story of electricity and electrification
  is its abstractness and the general inquiry that has
  always seemed to accompany it, in every aspect of life...


>The Historical Collections of the New York Academy of Medicine announces
>the first public exhibition and lecture for its 2002-2003 season:
>"Shocked: The Romance of Electricity," on display from September 24 to
>December 9, 2002, with an opening reception and public lecture on
>Tuesday, September 24, 6:00 P.M., by David Rhees, Ph.D., who will
>discuss "Electrotherapy from Franklin to Frankenstein."
>
>Electricity captured the popular and scientific imagination of the 18th
>and early 19th centuries. Scientists and popular writers of the time
>described efforts of all sorts to define and harness the enigmatic
>phenomenon known as electricity. Experimenters passed electric current
>through anyone and anything imaginable, and built large and incredible
>machines, bristling with complicated apparatus to generate wonderful
>crackling arcs, great clouds of smoke, and static. And medical
>men--whether they sought practical medical applications or hoped to
>discover the essence of muscular movement, and hence the secret of life
>itself--were at the forefront of this activity.
>
>Miriam Mandelbaum, the New York Academy's Curator of Rare Books, has
>assembled an exhibition featuring printed materials from the early
>history of electricity, including William Gilbert's _De magnete_ (1600),
>the first French edition of Benjamin Franklin's _Experiments and
>Observations on Electricity_ (1752), and the first edition of Luigi
>Galvani's _De viribus_ (1792).
>
>On September 24, at 6:00 P.M., David Rhees, Ph.D., Executive Director of
>the Bakken Library and Museum in Minneapolis will present the opening
>lecture. "Electrotherapy from Franklin to Frankenstein," will provide a
>richly illustrated tour of the checkered career and public image of
>electrotherapy from Benjamin Franklin's treatment of paralysis with
>static electricity to the Frankenstein films of the 1930s.
>
>This event is free and open to the public. For more information about
>this or other Academy programs in the history of medicine, write
>history@nyam.org or call 212.822.7314.
>---
>
>Founded in 1847, the New York Academy of Medicine is a non-profit
>organization dedicated to enhancing the health of the public through
>research, education and advocacy, with a particular focus on
>disadvantaged urban populations. Please visit our website:
>http://www.nyam.org


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