FENS, through its History Committee, regularly supports seminars about the history of neuroscience.

Information about upcoming seminars will be posted here and on the FENS calendar.

Recordings and materials of past seminars are available in the resources section.

2019

• Naples: two meetings were organised for the “Darwin Week” scheduled for the 12th February 2019 by Università degli Studi Federico II, Stazione Zoologica di Napoli and ArciMovie on the the relationship between cinema and science:The scientific cinematography: origins, development at the Academy Astra cinema and The use of cinematography in science at the Stazione Zoologica di Napoli.
• Milan: A Seminar was held on 25 July at the Biblioteca Scientifica of the Fondazione IRCCS Istituto Neurologico C. Besta. Prof. Richard E. Brown, member of the FENS History Committee, gave a lecture on “Why Study neuroscience history?”.
• Paris: A seminar titled Augusta Dejerine Klumpke (1859-1927). Commémoration du 160e anniversaire de sa naissance was held on Tuesday, October 15th, 2019 at the Institut du Cerveau et de la Moelle Épinière – Hôpital Pitié Salpêtrière in Paris. This event represented a further step in the project WiNEu – European Women in Neuroscience, awarded by the History Committee in 2016 and published in 2017. Further details about the event can be found here.
• Paris: The Institut du Cerveau et de la Moelle Épinière – Hôpital Pitié Salpêtrière in Paris organised a seminar titled Histoire des neurosciences au féminin, focusing on the history of women in neuroscience.

2018

• Oslo: 3 May, “Nansen’s Doctorate and the Neuron Doctrine – 130th Anniversary Symposium” organised by the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters.
• Milan: 11 May, “Déjerine, 100 years of therapies across one century of neurology” organised by the Scientific Library of the the Fondazione I.R.C.C.S. Istituto Neurologico Carlo Besta.
• Berlin: 8 July, History Session of the FENS Forum 2018: “An evening at the Berlin Museum of Medical History: the German Contribution to the History of Neuroscience”, held at the Berlin Museum of Medical History at the Charité.
• Milan: 18 October, “100 years of Neuroscience, 100 years of the Istituto Neurologico Carlo Besta”
• Paris: 6 December, “Histoire des connaissances du lobe frontal“.

2017

• St Petersburg: 17-19 April, Scientific Forum devoted to the 100th anniversary of the Russian Physiological Society created by Ivan .P. Pavlov, at the Pavlov Institute of Physiology of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
• Turin: 4 May, Seminar on the History of Neuroscience in Turin, organised by the University of Turin and the Italian Neuroscience Society.
• Bordeaux: 19 May, History session at the French Neuroscience Society meeting – NeuroFrance 2017 (17-19 May).
• Besançon (France): 19-23 June, History session at the 22nd meeting of the International Society for the History of the Neurosciences (ISHN).
• Pécs (Hungary): 22 September, History Special Event at the FENS Regional Meeting (FRM), on “The history of neuroscience in central and eastern Europe during and after communism”.
• Ischia (Naples, Italy): 4 October, History Symposium on “Visions in Neurosciences” at the National Congress of the Italian Neuroscience Society (SINS).
• Milan: 14 November, a seminar on the 200 anniversary of the description of Parkinson disease, organised at and in partnership with the Fondazione I.R.C.C.S. Istituto Neurologico Carlo Besta.
• Pavia (Italy): 22-23 November, the centenary conference “Disease mechanisms, new diagnostic and therapeutic directions in neurology” of the Neurology Institute “Casimiro Mondino”.
• Paris: 7 December, “Bicentenaire de la publication : ‘An Essay on the Shaking Palsy’ de James Parkinson“, organised at and in partnership with the Institut du cerveau et de la moelle épinière (ICM).

2016

• Moscow: on 26th May 2016, on “History of Clinical and Fundamental Neurology in Russia: Contribution to European Neuroscience“, At the History of medicine center of  Moscow State, University of medicine and dentistry Dolgorukovskaya, in collaboration with the Russian Neuroscience Society.
• Copenhagen: At the FENS Forum 2016, on 4th July 2016, on “An Evening at Medical Museion: “The History of  Neuroscience in Scandinavia” in the anatomy auditorium of the Medical Museion of Copenhagen. The symposium was followed by guided tours of the Museion.
• Maastricht: as a session of the International Society for the History of the Neurosciences (ISHN) meeting on July 11-15, 2016.
• Madrid: 24 November 2016, on “The dawn of Spanish Neuroscience”, in partnership with the Instituto Cajal (CSIC) and the Sociedad Española de Neurociencia
• Paris: 8 December, on “La mémoire, histoire et actualité”, in collaboration with l’Institut du cerveau et de la moelle épinière (ICM) and the Société Française de Neurologie (SFN).
• Milan: 14 December, on “History and Protagonists of the Neuropsychiatry in Lombardy“, in collaboration with Fondazione IRCCS Cà Granda Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico, Fondazione IRCCS Istituto Neurologico C. Besta and Società Italiana di Neurologia (SIN).

2015

• Naples: on 18 March 2015, involving three secondary schools’ students respectively coming from the “Liceo Statale Scientifico ‘Giuseppe Mercalli'”, the “Istituto Paritario Bianchi dei Padri Barnabiti” and the “Liceo Classico ‘Umberto I'”; and organised by Dr Gioacchino Tedeschi (the University of Naples and Italian Society of Neurology- SIN) and Dr Lorenzo Lorusso (Neurology Dept., Chiari and Chair of the FENS History Committee). Another session took place on 11 April 2015.
• Oxford: on 19 March 2015, the seminar “Neuroscience in Oxford: Four Centuries of Discovery“
• Milan: on 17 April 2015, on “Carlo Besta and the Italian Neurosciences Development“, organised by the Fondazione I.R.C.C.S. Istituto Neurologico Carlo Besta.
• Oxford: on 12 May 2015, on “History of understanding of the cerebral cortex”, at St John’s College. Watch this seminar on FENS Youtube Channel
• Thessaloniki (Greece): on 9th October 2015, on “A History of Neuroscience Symposium – Understanding the origins and the development of Neuroscience from the Ancient Greek era till today”, at the FRM 2015.
• Venice: on 7 November 2015, on “The Contribution of Neuroscience in Veneto. Cultural and Medical-Scientific roots: actuality and perspectives” at the Sala San Domenico of the Ospedale Civile Ss. Giovanni e Paolo.
• Paris: on 3-4 December 2015, on “De l’Histoire des Neurosciences à la Neuropsychiatrie Moderne” at the ICM Auditorium in the Hôpital Pitié Salpêtrière, in collaboration with the Institut du Cerveau et de la moelle épinière (ICM).
• London: on 14 December 2015, on “Neuroscience – Past, Present and Future” at the Kings College London, for the 50th anniversary of the British Neuroscience Association (BNA)