Events for February 16, 2010

February 16, 2010

Robert D. Hicks, The College of Physicians of Philadelphia

Bringing Physics to Physicians

Chemical Heriage Foundation | Visit site »

Time: 12:00 - 1:00 p.m.
Place: 6th Floor Conference Room, Chemical Heritage Foundation
Information: 215-873-8289 or bbl@chemheritage.org

Founded more than two centuries ago, the College of Physicians of Philadelphia carries National Historic Landmark status as the birthplace of medicine in the United States. The main historical assets owned by the college are its historical library, once the primary medical reference library in the United States, and the Mütter Museum, founded 150 years ago, a collection of anatomical and pathological specimens and medical instruments. One feature of the collection is the cabinet of mementos, a “repository of historic souvenirs,” which was assembled a century ago by Robert Abbe, MD. The cabinet’s mementos include a quartz piezo-electric apparatus presented by Marie Curie and made by Pierre Curie. A tool for measuring the strength of an electron discharge from radium, this relic seems out of place. Why is this device part of a cabinet of medical mementos? How and why was this apparatus enshrined as a relic of medical history, and why did the college seek a memento from Marie Curie, who presented it to the college in person? This presentation explores the curious presence of Curie’s gift.

Robert Hicks is currently the director of the Mütter Museum and Historical Medical Library and the William Maul Measey Chair for the History of Medicine at the College of Physicians of Philadelphia. Before this he was the Roy Eddleman Institute Director for Interpretation and Education at the Chemical Heritage Foundation. (He is also very fond of leeches.)

February 16, 2010

Rebecca Skloot, Author

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

The Wistar Institute, Author's Series | Visit site »

Time: 7:00 p.m.
Place: The Wistar Institute, 36th & Spruce Streets

Reading and book signing. 

Event is free, but space is limited and registration is required. 
RSVP by February 11.

About the Book: Her name was Henrietta Lacks, but scientists know her as HeLa. She was a poor Southern tobacco farmer who worked the same land as her slave ancestors, yet her cells taken without her knowledge became one of the most important tools in medicine. The first “immortal” human cells grown in culture, they are still alive today, though she has been dead for more than sixty years.  HeLa cells were vital for developing the polio vaccine; uncovered secrets of cancer, viruses, and the effects of the atom bomb; helped lead to important advances like in vitro fertilization, cloning, and gene mapping; and have been bought and sold by the billions.  Yet Henrietta Lacks remains virtually unknown, buried in an unmarked grave.

Rebecca Skloot is an award-winning writer, and a contributing editor at Popular Science magazine. She has worked as a correspondent for NPR’s RadioLab and PBS’s Nova ScienceNOW, and her writing appears in The New York Times Magazine, O: The Oprah Magazine, Discover, Columbia Journalism Review, Prevention, and many others.  The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, her first book, will be released on February 9, 2010.