The Intersection of Disciplines in Early Modern Science

Dr. Nuno Castel-Branco
Fellow, All Souls College, University of Oxford 

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Dr. Nuno Castel-Branco

Dr. Nuno Castel-Branco is a Research Fellow at All Souls College, Oxford. He completed his Ph.D. in the history of science at Johns Hopkins University in 2021 after earning a Bachelor’s and Master’s in Physics at the University of Lisbon. Previously, he worked as a Research Fellow at Harvard University’s Villa I Tatti in Florence and at the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science in Berlin. His first book, The Traveling Anatomist: Nicolaus Steno and the Intersection of Disciplines in Early Modern Science was published by the University of Chicago Press in October 2025. 


Dr Castel-Branco's research has been generously supported by institutions such as the Fulbright Program, the Andrew Mellon Foundation, the Royal Society and, more recently, the John Fell Fund from the University of Oxford. His writing has also appeared in publications such as Isis, Renaissance Quarterly and Annals of Science, as well as in the Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post and Scientific American

The Traveling Anatomist: Nicolaus Steno and the Intersection of Disciplines in Early Modern Science

Reevaluates Nicolaus Steno’s contributions to anatomy and early modern science, examining his interdisciplinary interests in their historical context.

Nicolaus Steno (1638–1686) was a renowned anatomist in his lifetime. He reformed the anatomical understanding of glands, argued that the heart was a muscle, renamed the so-called female testicles as ovaries, and developed a mathematical model for understanding muscle contraction—discoveries that were fundamental to the fields of anatomy and physiology.

However, other aspects of Steno’s life have come to define him: his claim that mountains’ strata reveal the history of the Earth and his conversion to Catholicism as a practicing scientist.

This excessive attention to his geological discoveries and to asking whether science and religion are compatible, Nuno Castel-Branco argues, has obscured his significant accomplishments as an anatomist. The Traveling Anatomist thus restores Steno to his rightful place as a crucial figure in early modern science.

Dr. Nuno Castel-Branco

All Souls College, Oxford Fellow 
About
Dr Nuno Castel-Branco is a Research Fellow at All Souls College, Oxford. He completed his Ph.D. in the history of science at Johns Hopkins University in 2021 after earning a Bachelor’s and Master’s in Physics at the University of Lisbon. 

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